174 WATER MASSES AND CURRENTS OF THE OCEANS 



Currents of the Adjacent Seas of the North Atlantic Ocean 

 The Norwegian Sea and the North Polar Sea. The inflow of 

 water into the Norwegian Sea and the North Polar Sea takes place 

 principally between Scotland and the Faroe Islands, and the outflow 

 takes place through Denmark Strait. Fresh water is added by run-off 

 from the great Siberian rivers and by excess precipitation. The water 

 budget of the region can therefore be summarized as follows: 



Inflow northwest of Scotland 3.0 million mVsec 



Inflow through Bering Strait 0.3 



Run-off from rivers 0.16 " " 



Excess precipitation 0.09 " " 



Inflow and addition of fresh water 3.55 " " 



Outflow through Denmark Strait 3. 55 " " 



The Atlantic Water that flows into the Norwegian Sea has a salinit}^ 

 of about 35.3°/oo, but is diluted by fresh water, so that the outflowing 

 water has a lower salinity — about 32.5°/oo. 



The amount of heat given off by the water can be estimated. The 

 average temperatures of the inflowing and outflowing waters between 

 Scotland and Greenland can be taken as 8°C and — 1°C, respectively, 

 and therefore the total amount of heat given off by the waters is about 

 24 X 10^^ g cal/sec. It is probable that at least half of this amount is 

 given off where the Atlantic water flows north along the west coast of 

 Norway, or over an area not greater than 2 X 10^^ m^. The average 

 amount of heat given off in this area would then be 12 g cal/m^/sec = 

 0.072 g cal/cm^/min = 103 g cal/cm^/day. This value is greater than 

 the radiation surplus in those latitudes (fig. 66 p. 229), and, although 

 it is uncertain, it serves to demonstrate the important bearing of the 

 Atlantic Current on the climate of the extreme northwestern part of 

 Europe. 



Later observations have not materially changed the conception of the 

 surface currents of the Norwegian Sea which Helland-Hansen and Nansen 

 presented in 1909. Their picture is reproduced in fig. 44, according to 

 which the two main currents in that region are the Norwegian Current, 

 which represents a continuation of the North Atlantic Current, and the 

 East Greenland Current. 



The Norwegian Current, which is part of the Gulf Stream system 

 (p. 164), is flanked on the left-hand side by a series of whirls, some of 

 which are probably stationary and related to the bottom topography, 

 whereas others may be traveling eddies. Off northern Norway the 

 Norwegian Current branches, one branch continuing into Barents Sea, 

 and another turning north toward Spitsbergen and bending around the 

 northwestern Spitsbergen islands. The waters of this current have a 

 high salinity and a high temperature, the maximum salinity decreasing 



