RUSSIAN JOURNAL OF EARTH SCIENCES, VOL. 16, ES3004, doi:10.2205/2016ES000570, 2016
O. P. Nikitin, A. O. Zhukovskaya
The paper presents a description of observations of near-surface currents and water temperature at the surface, made in the Barents Sea and in the south-western part of the Kara Sea with the help of satellite tracked drifting buoys – drifters. This information should be taken into account when planning further drifter observations in the considered area. For the southwestern region of the Barents Sea – the most covered by drifter observations – the intra-annual variations of the averaged velocity module of currents at the depth of 15 m and the average temperature at the water surface are calculated. It is shown that the currents intensify in winter and weaken in summer with a minimum of the velocity module in August. Water temperature at the surface, on the contrary, has a maximum in August, and a minimum is reached in April.
Received 23 August 2016; accepted 24 August 2016; published 5 September 2016.
Citation: Nikitin O. P., A. O. Zhukovskaya (2016), Intra-annual variations of intensity of subsurface currents and surface water temperature in the southwestern part of the Barents Sea inferred from drifter data, Russ. J. Earth Sci., 16, ES3004, doi:10.2205/2016ES000570.
Copyright 2016 by the Geophysical Center RAS.