Heat-flow measurements in Baffin Bay and the Labrador Sea

Abstract

Ten measurements of geothermal heat flux have been made in Baffin Bay and the Labrador Sea. The mean of five geographically separate values from Baffin Bay is 1.35 ± 0.14 μcal/cm2 sec, and the mean of three values from the Labrador Sea is 1.33 ± 0.15 μcal/cm2 sec. The heat flows in the center of the Baffin Bay basin are slightly higher than the heat flows toward the sides. The lack of a pronounced thermal anomaly suggests that there is little or no spreading in these areas at present. There is no detectable thermal anomaly associated with the zone of seismicity in northern Baffin Bay. The thermal gradients in northern Baffin Bay were nonlinear; the nonlinearity indicates a recent bottom-water temperature change. The data require that a single bolus of warm bottom water passed through the area 6 to 7 weeks before the first measurements and remained for 2 weeks.