#6 Topic: The Arctic Ocean
Lecturer: Torsten Kanzow
Date: Monday, December 7, 2020 10:00 – 11:00 a.m.

The Arctic Mediterranean Sea (AMS) is comprised of the Arctic Ocean proper and the Nordic Seas – with the former being mostly covered by sea ice in winter and the latter being mostly ice-free. The most important heat source of the AMS is the North Atlantic Current – Norwegian Current System, carrying warm and saline waters northward from the subtropical Atlantic. At the same time the Arctic Ocean proper is exposed to a strong inflow of fresh water from river runoff along the Siberian coast. In the lecture, we will touch upon these differential boundary conditions, and on how they – together with both a massive loss of heat of the ocean to the atmosphere in wintertime and regional wind systems – set up basin-scale, three-dimensional ocean circulation patterns in the AMS. The relevance of the circulation will be explained in a wider context, and also, how changes recent changes in the circulation and stratification are thought to have contributed a reduction in sea ice formation in the Arctic Ocean.