| dc.description.abstract | A limited area of the marginal sea ice zone in the Barents Sea was
investigated in the period 9-19 July 1979 with the intention of
describing the biological production system in the vicinity of an
ice edge. This paper describes the physical oceanographic conditions
in the observation period.
Two main sections, I and II, and three auxiliary sections, A, B and
C, were worked out (Fig. 1). Section II was covered twice with 6
days interval between each coverage. All sections were characterized
by a homogeneous surface layer of about l0 m. Below this there
was a transition layer, which in both sections was most pronounced
in the northern part.
In section II a tongue of cold Arctic water was penetrating southwards
below the transition layer. This tongue was also observed in
the sections A, B and C. The second coverage of section II showed
that the southern part of the tongue was in process of being mixed
with surrounding water masses. During this coverage the surface
temperature was 2-4°C higher than during the first coverage. This
was due to heating by short wave radiation from the sun and was
calculated to be 3.2°C in the upper 10 m.
Two anchor stations of duration 30 hours were made at two locations
in section II, one in the southern part and one in the northern
part. There was insignificant variations in the hydrographical conditions
during these 30 hours at both stations.
At both anchor stations current measurements were carried out with
Gytre current meters. In addition, at the southern anchor station,
current was measured for 8 days with 4 Aanderaa current meters suspended
from a subsurface buoy. All current measurements showed
small velocities, and both speed and direction changed very little
with depth. | en |
