DISTRIBUTION AND EXCHANGE OF WATER MASSES IN THE NORTHEAST WATER POLYNYA (GREENLAND SEA)

On the basis of classical hydrographic and nutrient analysis, water ma sses and their spreading in the Northeast Water (NEW) Polynya were inv estigated from RV Polarstern ARK IX (1993) data. It is shown that a lo cal water body, East Greenland Shelf Water, occupies the top layer in the NEW and that this water is different from Polar Water exported fro m the Arctic Polar Ocean. Polar Water, as well as the underlying and a lso imported Knee Water, follows a path crossing the broad East Greenl and Shelf diagonally from northeast to southwest but both waters do no t enter the NEW Polynya. Intermediate waters in the NEW are also modif ied locally. A local source of silicate, contributing to an intermedia te silicate maximum in the trough system, is identified in the centre of the anticyclonic movement over Belgica Bank. Furthermore, it is con firmed that there is no one-directional through-flow of deeper waters in the trough system. Belgica Trough and Westwind Trough contain two d ifferent water types of Atlantic origin, which are not directly relate d to Return Atlantic Waters. The deeper waters in Norske Trough are su pplied from Belgica Trough over a sill of about 250 m depth.