Atlantic water north of Svalbard 1899-2018

As part of the Nansen Legacy project, waters north of Svalbard are studied. The warm and saline Atlantic water, brought northward by the West Spitsbergen Current cools and freshens as it flows eastward along the slope north of Svalbard, bringing heat and salt into the Arctic Ocean. Hydrographic CTD data are available from various cruises and databases, the main source here being the UNIS Hydrographic Database. Changes in the Atlantic water properties and its horizontal and vertical location on the slope and shelf are mapped from decadal averages of historical data from 1899 to 2018. The mean width of the boundary current following the slope eastward is estimated for five cross-shelf/slope sections from the decadal averages. An Atlantification is present from 1996-2005 to 2006-2018 with warmer and more saline water covering a larger area across the slope and reaching further east.