Summer Circulation Patterns, Northern Smith Sound

Abstract

The Naval Ocean Research and Development Activity conducted an oceanographic research program in northern Smith Sound during middle July 1977 using USCGC Westwind (W-AGB 281) as the data collection platform. One aspect of the program was to investigate the water mass interactions at the narrowest portion of Smith Sound which: (1) represents the boundary between this sound and Kane Basin to the north; and (2) is the area of the most well-known semipermanent open water area - the North Water Polynya. From an analysis of 2 West-East cross sections and a comparison of these data with data collected by the Coast Guard in 1963, it is suggested that the northern Smith Sound area is a meeting area of two different water masses: (1) a warm (>-1.0°C), dense (>26.8 sigma tau) mass on the eastern side of Smith Sound which enters the area from the south; and (2) a cold (<-1.0 deg. C), low density (<26.7 sigma tau) mass on the western side of Smith Sound which originates in the Arctic. It is further suggested that since the warm, dense water mass was also observed in 1963, this feature in eastern Smith Sound may be a permanent or, more likely, a semipermanent (seasonal) phenomenon and could be highly modified Atlantic Water. This latter conclusion is in contrast to the general belief that Atlantic water does not enter Smith Sound.