One hundred years in the Norwegian Sea

At the turn of the 20th century oceanographic research in Norway became extensive and reached a peak in 1909 when Helland-Hansen & Nansen published Pie Norwegian Sea, a comprehensive description of the oceanographic features of the Nordic Seas. Since then. oceanographers have contributed to two main aspects that were largely inaccessible to the early pioneers. namely quantifying the exchanges of heat. salt and mass between the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans through the Nordic Seas, and piecing together indication of the longer term variability of the system. During the past 100 years, six events in particular have made an impact on the physical environment of the Norwegian Sea on a timescale of decades, each seeming to involve a different mix of ocean-climate processes. and each therefore providing new insight into the varied nature of physical change and ecosystem response: 1) the Great Chill, 1900-1920; 2) the Warming in the North, 1920-1960; 3) the Great Salinity Anomaly 1968-1982; 4) the Warming of the Abyss. 1970-present clay; 5) the freshening of the subarctic seas: and 6) the warming of the Arctic.