Date

The new publication described below, "The Freshwater Budget of the Arctic Ocean"
is presently being distributed to the authors and editors and should be generally
available by the end of this month. It is the proceedings of a NATO Advanced
Research Workshop which was intended to address all aspects of the subject and
to be more than a collection of papers on the topic. For more information,
contact:

E. Lyn Lewis
3904 Bedford Road
Victoria, BC Canada V8N 4K5
phone: 250-477-3772
fax: 250-477-3209
email: LewisL [at] pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca

To order the publication, contact one of these distribution centers based on
your location:

KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS
Order Dept., P.O. Box 322
3300 AH Dordrecht, The Netherlands
Fax +31-78-6546474, Tel. +31-78-6392392
E-mail: orderdept [at] wkap.nl

Distributor in the U.S.A., Canada and Mexico:
KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS GROUP
Order Dept, P.O. Box 358
Accord Station, Hingham, MA 02018-0358, U.S.A.
Fax: (617) 871-6528, Tel. (781) 871-6600

E-mail: kluwer [at] wkap.com

THE FRESHWATER BUDGET OF THE ARCTIC OCEAN

edited by:
Edward Lyn Lewis
Emeritus, Institute of Ocean Sciences, Sidney B.C. Canada

Associate Editors:
E.Peter Jones, Bedford Institute of Oceanography,Darthmouth NS Canada
Peter Lemke, Institute of Marine Research, Kiel, Germany
Terry D. Prowse, National Water research Institute, Saskatoon, Sk. Canada
Peter Wadhams, Scott Polar Research Institute, Univ.of Cambridge, U.K.

Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop, Tallin, Estonia,
27th April - 1 May 1998.

This book is the report from a NATO "Advanced Research Workshop" attended by
meteorologists, hydrologists, oceanographers, sea-ice specialists and by
modellers in an attempt to present the latest information about the Arctic Ocean
freshwater budget. Twenty seven papers were presented over five days. Twenty
three are published here, plus a contribution which attempts to aid the
interpretation of this compilation. Papers setting the background are followed by
more detailed reports on atmospheric, riverine and oceanographic conditions and
models. All the principal authors have responded to detailed criticisms by the
Editors, who themselves act as referees for papers in well known geophysical
journals. This book is thus considered to consist of "refereed" papers, a
snapshot of our state of knowledge in 1999.

The hydrological cycle of the Arctic Ocean has intimate and complex linkages to
global climate: changes in one affect the other, usually with a feedback. The
combined effects of large river runoff, advection of meteoric water, low
evaporation rates and distillation by freezing contribute to the formation of a
strong halocline in the upper Arctic ocean, which limits thermal communication
between the sea ice and the warmer waters of Atlantic origin below. Sea ice and
freshened surface waters are transported from the marginal seas by winds and
currents, ultimately exiting the Arctic Ocean through Fram and Davis Straits.
Variations in the freshwater outflow from these regions effect the density
structure of the Arctic Ocean itself and so the surface heat balance. Another
feedback is the effect these variations have on the density profile of the water
column in the Greenland and Labrador seas where, at present, convection takes
place mixing surface waters downwards with those at greater depth. This downward
convective motion produces dense deep waters that flow outwards from these two
centres and effect the entire North Atlantic. Such deep outflows must be replaced
by inward flowing waters at lesser depths. One such inward flow is the so -
called North Atlantic Drift, which brings warm surface water to Northern Europe
from the Gulf of Mexico. It is possible that enhanced outflow of fresher waters
from the Arctic ocean may diminish this heat source.

Year by year the accumulated observational evidence from diverse sources makes
predictions of global climatic effects associated with changes in the freshwater
flux out of the Arctic Ocean more likely to be true and gives a time scale to
these potential effects. They may have very significant consequences for present
human populations.

NATO SCIENCE series 2. Environmental Security May 2000
625 printed pages,
hardbound, ISBN 0-7923-6439-2, NLG: 425.00 / USD: 208.00 / GBP: 132,00
paperback, ISBN 0-7923-6440-6, NLG: 175,00/ USD: 86,00/ GBP: 54,00
American Express, Visa, Diners Club, Mastercard, Eurocard, and Access.

KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS
Order Dept., P.O. Box 322
3300 AH Dordrecht, The Netherlands
Fax +31-78-6546474, Tel. +31-78-6392392
E-mail: orderdept [at] wkap.nl

Distributor in the U.S.A., Canada and Mexico:
KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS GROUP
Order Dept, P.O. Box 358
Accord Station, Hingham, MA 02018-0358, U.S.A.
Fax: (617) 871-6528, Tel. (781) 871-6600
E-mail: kluwer [at] wkap.com