HR: 13:40h
AN: OS33C-01    [Abstracts]
TI: The deep waters of the Arctic Ocean: Recent observations and variability
AU: Winsor, P
EM: pwinsor@whoi.edu
AF: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Clark 306A, MS#21, Woods Hole, MA 02543 United States
AU: * Bjork, G
EM: gobj@oce.gu.se
AF: Department of Oceanography Earth Sciences Centre, Goteborg University, Goteborg, 40530 Sweden
AB: Hydrographic observations from four icebreaker expeditions to the Arctic Ocean between 1991 and 2001 show evidence of changes in the deep waters of the Arctic Ocean. The deepest waters show 300-1000 m thick homogenous bottom layers, characterized by slightly warmer temperatures compared to ambient, overlying water masses, indicating that they may have formed by convection induced by geothermal heat supplied from Earth's interior. The layers are present in the central parts of the deep basins, away from continental slopes and ocean ridges. The observations also suggest relatively large changes in the deep waters of the Amundsen Basin between 1991 and 2001, with warmer water being present in 2001 over the entire deep-water column.
DE: 4207 Arctic and Antarctic oceanography
DE: 4215 Climate and interannual variability (3309)
DE: 4568 Turbulence, diffusion, and mixing processes
SC: Ocean Sciences [OS]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting