664 



The Stratospheric Circulation 



profiles, another core layer at about 80 m depth shows, which must clearly be fed from 

 the north-west by cold polar water that flows in through the Davis Strait with the 

 southward along Baffin Land directed current and finally joins the Labrador Current. 



As yet no dynamic preparation has been made of all the available data for the East 

 Greenland Current. Topographies of the physical sea level and the isobaric surfaces 

 in this region are also contained in Fig. 271 (see also Fig. 200). The downward 

 slope of the isobaric surfaces from the Greenland coast towards the open sea is 

 quite large and shows clearly the entire system of the East and West Greenland 

 Currents. This current system can no longer be seen in the 800 decibar surface; the 

 stronger current intensity is thus confined to the top layers. 



The main cause for the development for the East Greenland Current must lie in the 

 wind- and atmospheric-pressure conditions over the North Polar Basin. At all times 

 of the year due to wind and atmospheric pressure the water is driven eastwards and 

 water laden with pack-ice and drift-ice is carried towards the coast of north-east 

 Greenland. Here they find, supported by the wind turn towards south, a guiding 

 channel in the form of the Greenland coast. The pressure due to the piled up water 

 in combination with the action of the deflecting force of the earth's rotation produces 

 a southward gradient current. It could be expected that these cold weakly saline waters 

 on penetration into the warm but highly saline Atlantic water masses would soon be 

 dispersed by mixing. This is not the case and they still show, only slightly weakened, 

 as far as the southern tip of Greenland. They are maintained only by the continuous 

 advection of polar water from the north and by the climatic regime which maintains 

 the inland ice in Greenland. The polar climate generated by the inland ice, together 



3 4 5 e 



ico- 



200 



300- 



400- 



500 



600 



700- 



800 



200- 



300 



400- 



500 



600 



700 



800 



Fig. 311. Vertical cross-section through the East Greenland Current somewhat north of 

 Cape Farvel (about 60' N.); left-hand side, temperature; right-hand side, salinity. 



