Estimation of glacial meltwater discharge into Svalbard coastal waters. Oceanologia 39

Abstract During the summer expeditions of r/v 'Oceania' in 1995'Oceania' in -1996, oceanographic investigations comprising CTD profiling and suspension measurements were conducted in Svalbard fjords and shelf waters. The freshwater volume was estimated independently from the salinity drop as compared with the assumed background salinity and from the distribution of mineral suspension density in surface waters. Preliminary calculations of the instantaneous freshwater volume based on the distribution of suspended matter (at depths of < 150 m) yielded a figure of 80 km 3 in Svalbard coastal waters in summer. Values for Hornsund and Kongsfjord ranged from 0.4 to 0.7 km 3 of freshwater at the height of summer. This corresponds well with glaciological estimations, which give an annual discharge of 14.6 to 27.5 km 3 of freshwater for Svalbard. The glacial discharge is estimated to make up some 42% of the freshwater budget of Svalbard shelf waters, the remainder being derived from Barents Sea Arctic waters of reduced salinity

Some results of research on internal waves in the Stolpe Sill area* Internal waves Water mixing Sills Bottom topography effects Deep currents

Abstract Current, temperature and salinity data obtained on the western slope of the Stolpe Sill in October 1998 were analysed to identify the processes responsible for the transport of dense, near-bottom water from the Bornholm Deep into the Stolpe Channel. Westward transport in the deep layer was opposed to the wind direction. The longitudinal current component was considerably smaller than the latitudinal one. Long waves (with periods T > 10 h) and short-period oscillations (T < 2 h) were recorded in the form of wave trains. The rotary-component spectral method revealed a dominant internal wave with a period close to the local inertial period (T = 14.6 h). High-frequency current fluctuations (time scales 2-30 min) were regarded as a quasi-horizontal turbulence caused by interaction between the long waves and the complicated bottom topography