MELTWATER AND TIDAL CURRENTS - CONTROLS ON CIRCULATION IN A SMALL GLACIAL FJORD

McBride Inlet is a small glacial fjord that receives freshwater from a submarine tunnel at the base of a tidewater glacier at its head. The upwelling buoyant plume mixes with basin water, lowering the salinity throughout the ice-proximal basin. Freshwater also upwells from the melting ice face but the effects are only important in winter when discharge is low. Deep water renewal occurs in summer because the water mass crossing the sill inward is denser than the deep basin water. The thick, low velocity surface layer is affected by tides and wind, producing a slow moving gyre near the glacier. Meltwater discharge from a submarine position and the resultant circulation in McBride Inlet result in extremely high ice-proximal sedimentation rates. © 1992 Academic Press Limited.