Jökull - 01.12.1983, Qupperneq 140

Fig. 9. Vertical temperature,
salinity and density distribu-
tion at selected stations in the
Iceland Sea. For locations see
Fig. 2.
Mynd 9. Hitastig sjávar, selta og
eðlisþyngd á völdum stöðum í ís-
landshafi í febrúar 1971.
the author knows this is the highest winter salinity
value observed in the area, but it is still slightly too
low to allow surface water to sink to greater depths
by cooling at the sea surface. It must however be
stated that the homogeneity in salinity and sigma-t
from near surface layers down to the deepest ob-
servation at 3500 m (Fig. 10) indicates a deep reach-
ing vertical convection with formation of deep or
bottom water prior to the observation dme. After
that some lateral advection ofless saline water may
have taken placein the suriace layers. Thus, as far as
the author knows, a unique example of deep water
formation may have been established by the observ-
ations in February 1971. Theoxygen values at the
northemmost stations in the Greenland Sea (Figs.
8, 12, stat. 137, 139) were also reladvely high and
homogeneous from surface layers to the deepest
observation at 3500 m. Farther south (Figs. 6, 10,
stat. 135, 137), in the intermediate layer below the
cold surface layer, the observed salinity distribudon
also permits water mass transformation involving
double diffusion and deep vertícal convection in the
very homogenous study area (sigma-t 28.09-28.10).
DISCUSSION
The hydrographic data observed in the Iceland
and Greenland Seas in late winter 1971 showed the
generally known features ofthe permanent net cycl-
onic circulation in these seas accompanied by a
doming of isopycnals on a hundred of km length
scale (Figs. 1, 5 and 6). These condidons (“con-
Fig. 10. Vertical potendal
temperature, salinity and
density distribution at select-
ed stations in the Greenland
Sea. For location see Fig. 2.
Mynd 10. Hitastig sjávar, selta og
eðlisþyngd á v'óldum stöðum í
Norður-Grœnlandshafi í febrúar
1971.
138 JÖKULL 33. ÁR