Transformation of the atlantic water between svalbard and Franz Joseph Land in the late winter 2018–2019

An inflow of warm and salty Atlantic origin waters (AW) from the Nordic Seas to the Arctic Ocean interior is in the list of the major external factors, which control the hydrologic regime of the East-Atlantic sector of the Arctic Ocean. Rapid decay of the sea ice cover in 2000–2010s raised questions on the possible changes in the fate of the inflow under present ice-depleted conditions: whether warm and salty AW will cool and freshen slower (due to less ice to be melted underway), or intensified heat loss to the atmosphere through the open surface will lead to the faster AW cooling on shorter distance? We present rare hydrologic data, collected during the late winter 2019 in the international expedition “Transarktika-2019” in the northern part of the Barents Sea and at the adjoining continental slope of the Nansen Basin. On the basis of field data, supported by the oceanic reanalysis product and numerical modelling we have studied the transformation of AW on its transit between Svalbard and Franz Joseph Land. We show that the observed cooling and desalination of the fraction of AW over the continental slope around this area is controlled by lateral mixing with colder and fresher waters, outflowing from cross-slope canyons, which cut the continental slope: Kvitøya Trough, Franz Victoria Trough and probably, the British Channel. The obtained results demonstrate more intensive transformation of AW on this transit compared to previous studies. Possible explanations of this contrast, which are supported by the earlier studies, may include: the season of the survey when dense water outflow through canyons is at its maximum and gradual “atlantification” of the East-Atlantic sector of the Arctic Ocean, which favours intensification of dense water formation in winter polynyas under conditions of increased seasonality of sea ice. In the latter case, faster cooling and desalination of AW en route in this part of the Arctic Ocean may be considered as a reasonable hypothesis, provided the atlantification of the Nansen Basin is progressing.