Thermochaline Convection in the Edge-Ice Zone in the Barents Sea to the East of Spitsbergen

Abstract

The analysis of the thermochaline (double-diffusive) convection in the edge-ice zone of the Barents Sea to the east of Spitsbergen was performed by using the data of two hydrological surveys of the Norwegian Polar Institute in 1999 and 2000. The Turner's model, where the critical Rayleigh number is determined by using the empirical relationship between the Nusselt number and the Rayleigh number normalized to its critical value, was used for analysis. The results of calculation of thickness of the convective layer were compared with the data of supervision. The estimates of the vertical convective velocity were obtained.