Spitzbergen Current
The West Spitsbergen Current (WSC) is a warm, salty current that runs poleward just west of Spitsbergen, (formerly called West Spitsbergen), in the Arctic Ocean. The WSC branches off the Norwegian Atlantic Current in the Norwegian Sea. The WSC is of importance because it drives warm and salty Atlantic Water into the interior Arctic. The warm and salty WSC flows north through the eastern side of Fram Strait, while the East Greenland Current (EGC) flows south through the western side of Fram Strait. The EGC is characterized by being very cold and low in salinity, but above all else it is a major exporter of Arctic sea ice. Thus, the EGC combined with the warm WSC in the Fram Strait makes the Fram Strait the northernmost ocean area having ice-free conditions throughout the year in all of the global ocean.
Read more about Spitzbergen Current: Horizontal Movement, Vertical Movement, Properties, Mass Transport, Current Research
Other articles related to "spitzbergen current, current":
... Current research on the WSC focuses in on two areas heat content and methane gas release ... Thus, this current topic is of high interest because an increase of heat flux out of the AW core will result in more Arctic Sea Ice melting ...
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