Microstructure anomalies in the Arctic Ocean

Abstract

The steplike structure of vertical temperature profiles in the Arctic Ocean (under T-3) shows anomalous features. The temperature through thick layers (15–20 meters) is not always isothermal; it frequently decreases with depth so that at the bottom of the layer it may equal the temperature at the bottom of the layer just above. A somewhat similar temporary phenomenon is found in thinner layers (about 4 meters) in which a warm ‘overshoot’ appears at the top of the layer and generally thickens until only an inversion of cooler water remains at the bottom. When thin layers vary in this manner, two adjacent layers are usually affected. On one occasion the entire set of layers (220–300 meters) disappeared from the bottom upward and later reappeared from the top downward. The large-scale character of the salinity-temperature structure was different in the absence and presence of layering.