Spitzbergen Current - Current Research

Current Research

Current research on the WSC focuses in on two areas: heat content and methane gas release. It has been well documented that the Atlantic Water core temperature associated with the WSC has increased by almost 1 °C in recent years. It has also been well documented that the Atlantic Water core temperature decreases as you move cyclonically around the Arctic. Thus, this means that heat is being lost to the surrounding water. As the temperature of the water is increased, more heat will be lost to the surrounding water as the WSC tracts around the Arctic Ocean. If the heat flux out of the Atlantic Water core in the WSC is vertically upward then that would lead to warming of the Arctic Surface Water and the melting of more Arctic Sea Ice. 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.

The second major topic being looked at is how this warming will affect methane gas release in the ocean seabed along the continental margins in West Spitsbergen. There exists these gas hydrate stability zones where a small fluctuation in temperature could dissociate these hydrates and release methane gas bubbles that rise to the surface and are released into the atmosphere.