LABORATORY SIMULATION OF THE OCEAN CURRENTS IN THE BARENTS SEA

A rotating laboratory model of the Barents Sea was forced by computed inflows of Atlantic Water and Arctic Surface Water for the period 1979-1984. Ad hoc tidal excursions over the shoals north of Bear Island and deep water production as a result of winter cooling and salt rejection in the eastern part of the basin were calibrated in the model. The high spatial resolution in the basin, which was 5 m in diameter, provided the basis for simulating several physical scales simultaneously. The simulated current features of interest include (1) the spreading of the Norwegian Coastal Current over Tromsoflaket, (2) a warm-core jet along the southeastern slope of the Svalbardbanken, which pushes the ice front far to the NE of Hopen Island, (3) the anticyclonic circulation around Sentralbanken, which drives Arctic Surface Water and ice far south in the eastern basin, (4) Norwegian Coastal Water flowing north across the Bear Island Channel, (5) deep water outflows north through the Franz-Victoria Trough and west through the Bear Island Channel, (6) the dependence of dense water accumulation and flushing on the variable Atlantic inflow, and (7) a robust, tidally driven circulation on the Svalbardbanken and around Bear Island. The Polar Front along the Svalbardbanken is fairly stationary, although its location is highly variable in the Sentralbanken area as a result of underflows (and winds-which were not simulated). The residence time for the Arctic Surface Water on Sentralbanken is about 8 months. Comparisons with available field measurements show a validation that is better than existing numerical model simulations. Entrainment of Arctic Surface Water on Svalbardbanken to the Atlantic inflow holds the Polar Front sharp and modifies the Atlantic Water as it flows to the Arctic Ocean. The simulated warm-core jet along this slope had a core speed up to 85 cm s(-1), whereas the best available current measurements near the core show surges up to about 30 cm s(-1). The simulated vorticity of the current is -0.33f, where f is the planetary vorticity. This can be provided from the conservation of potential vorticity. Both field data and laboratory simulations show that particles trapped in the Bear Island Current take 5-8 days to circle the island, which is 20 km in diameter. Except for surface confetti, agreement between model and field data was good for the southern flow east of Sentralbanken, but poor for the Murman Current. A model 'wind' caused a significant departure in this region and may be responsible for an exaggerated warm-core jet past Svalbardbanken.