The spectral optical properties and relative radiant heating contribution of dissolved and particulate matter in the surface waters across the Fram Strait

The Fram Strait is the key region for exchange processes between Arctic Ocean and North Atlantic. With two major near-surface currents, the warm and salty West Spitsbergen Current and cold low-salinity East Greenland Current, its waters encompass two distinct oceanographic environments. During autumns of 2009 and 2010 comprehensive observations were performed on transects along 79 N across the Fram Strait.

Samples for chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) and particulate absorption were collected and analyzed together with distribution of temperature and salinity in surface waters (0-100 m). Large spatial variations in the distribution of CDOM and particulate matter as well as in their relative contributions to total absorption were apparent, with high contrast between waters of Arctic and Atlantic origin.

In addition, estimates of underwater light profiles and radiant heating rate (RHR) of the upper layer were obtained using a simplistic exponential RHR model. This is one of the first detailed overviews of sea water optical properties across the northern Fram Strait, and might have potential implications for biological, biogeochemical and physical processes in the region