by the rough traces on the PGR record; however, the presence of a 

 smooth trace in the western portion is evidence of deposition of 

 particulate matter carried by the large rivers emptying into the 

 Kara Sea. 



2. Description of Rivers Emptying Into the Kara Sea . Some of 

 the major Siberian rivers empty into the Kara Sea (Table II) . This 



TABLE II. Sibtrion Rivers Emptying Into the Kara Sea and Vicinity (After L'vovich, 1953) 



RIVER 



LENGTH (km) 



Drainage Area 



(krrf) 



Annual Discharge (km ) 



TAYMYR 



600 



72,000 





20 



PYASINA 



820 



192,000 





80 



YENISEY 



3,354 



2,599,000 





548 



TAZ 



779 



108,000 





47 



PUR 



256 



67,000 





29 



OB 



3,676 



2,485,000 





394 



PECHORA 



1,790 



327,000 





129 



outpouring of warm waters, which occurs mainly during the summer 

 months and amounts to approximately l,100km®/yr, entrains and mixes 

 with vastly more water to form a brackish water type that overlies 

 heavier and colder water. According to Antonov (1958), 213, 000km® /yr 

 flow into the Arctic Ocean from all sources. Eighty-three percent 

 of this volume comes from the Atlantic Ocean as a submarine current 

 traveling between Greenland and Spitsbergen. Continental Runoff 

 constitutes approximately 0.5 percent of the vjater entering the Arctic 

 Ocean. Nevertheless, the small amount of Continental Runoff exerts 

 far greater influence on the currents and Arctic Basin water masses 

 than the volume of runoff would indicate. 



Temporal changes in the water are seen by noting changes at stations 

 which were reoccupied after a 6-week interval (Fig. 7). At stations 

 37 and 59, which x-;ere near the mouths of the Ob and Yenisey Rivers, 

 surface salinity values increased from August to September. Conversely, 

 stations farther away from the river mouths showed decreased surface 

 salinity values in the same time span. These variations illustrate 

 the extreme changeability of surface salinity in this area. Figure 7 

 also shows that below about 30 meters, the salinity values did not 

 change significantly during the 6-week period. This consistency in 

 salinity of the deeper waters indicates that the variations were 

 primarily due to runoff and winds. 



3. A Description of Water Masses Found in the Kara Sea . There 

 are six major water masses that either originate in the Kara Sea 



16 



