Hydrographic and current measurements in the Fram Strait, August 1981

Abstract

The hydrographic (CTD) observations and pendulum current measurements obtained with M/S 'Lance' in August 1981 in the area west and north of Spitsbergen, are presented. The warm and saline northward flow, known as the West Spitsbergen Current, is found to follow the shelf break. In the Fram Strait the hydrographic structure is complicated because of eddies and other transient movements. The current measurements suggest a two-layer structure where the velocity vector rotates in opposite directions in the two layers with a period near the semidiurnal tidal period.