Barents Sea 

 Murman Coastal Ci^rrent, Murman Current, Kanin Current, Pechora Current 



Except for the strait region between Worth Cape and Bear Island, 

 vhere depths exceed 400 meters, the shallow Barents Sea has an average 

 depth of ahout 200 meters, and volume transport into the sea is mainly 

 restricted to the surface layer of Atlantic water at depths which do 

 not exceed those of the Barents Sea. The greatest amount of water 

 transfer occurs between Worth Cape and Bear Island; maximum flow has 

 been computed at 1^4,000 cubic meters per second during summer and the 

 minimum flow at 124,000 cubic meters per second dirring winter. 



As with the Kara and Laptev Seas, very little information is 

 available on currents in the Barents Sea, but they are complex and 

 changeable. Winds influence the siirface currents by slowing or 

 accelerating them, and altering the directions of flow. The currents 

 also change year to year, with fluctuations in volume transport, 

 seasonal fresh river water discharge, amount of sea ice, and reversing 

 or rotary tidal currents whose maximum speeds in different regions 

 have been observed to vary from 1.1 to 2.3 knots for distances up to 

 60 miles from the Miorman Coast. 



As shown in Figure 1, the Worth Cape Current divides into two 

 branches at about 30 °E. The south branch follows the coast to the 

 entrance of the White Sea and is known as the Murman Coastal Current; 

 it does not usually exceed 20 miles in width, and speeds may reach 1 

 knot. The weaker north branch, called the Murman Current, averages 

 only about 0.3 knot and continues eastward to about 34°E., where it 

 turns east-southeast o At about 38°E. the current widens southeastward 

 then turns northeast, increases in speed to about 1 knot in the 

 vicinity of 71°W., 4l°E., and flows toward the northern tip of Wovaya 



