can also be applied to the colder surface waters and need not be 

 repeated. Two possible explanations of the relatively high reactive 

 silicate concentrations found in the colder surface waters are that 

 they reflect the influence of waters from the Pacific and the influence 

 of the large rivers which empty into the Arctic Ocean. High reactive 

 silicate concentrations have been found in the waters of the Laptev 

 Sea which are influenced by the Lena River's outflow and in Arctic 

 Ocean waters which appear to enter through Bering Strait (Codispoti 

 1965) . It must be emphasized that these explanations are very preliminary 

 and other processes could also be quite important. 



VII . SUMMARY 



The results of this analysis of the oceanographic data collected 

 during the 1964 EDISTO survey include the following: 



a. Many of the prevailing ideas concerning the gross features 

 of the oceanography of the region are shown to be correct. 



b. At the time of this survey, the center of the East Greenland 

 Current appeared to be farther east than is indicated on some earlier 

 charts. 



c. The meanders and gyres indicated by Figures 26 through 35 

 differ somewhat from those shown in some of the earlier current schemes. 



d. Minimum bottom water temperatures in the survey region appeared 

 to be warmer than they were at the beginning of the century. 



e. More study appears to be necessary before one can say whether 

 the bulk of the Arctic Bottom Water forms in the Norwegian Gyre or 



in the Greenland Cyre, or how the temperature of the Arctic Bottom 

 Water formed in the Greenland Gyre is raised. There appear to be 

 reasonable alternatives to Metcalf's (1960) views on these subjects. 



f. High dissolved oxygen saturations found at great depths in 

 the survey region can be explained by the proximity of areas of bottom 

 water formation, by the oxidation of a large portion of organic material 

 before the deeper waters leave the surface, and by the absence of 



a significant amount of sinking organic material. 



g. In general, micronutrient concentrations in the survey region 

 were low, indicating that water from the North Atlantic is the primary 

 component of all of the waters in the northern Greenland Sea. 



h. Photosynthetic processes appeared to be lowering the near 

 surface micronutrient concentrations and, in some instances, raising 

 oxygen concentrations. 



i. In those cases where primary production may have been limited 

 by a micronutrient deficiency, nitrate appears to have been the limiting 

 nutrient. 



40 



