This award supports a program of research to study sediment accumulation rates in five transects of sediment cores that cross today's primary flow path of Arctic bound Atlantic water (e.g., the West Spitsbergen Current). Because the Wets Spitsbergen Current). Because the West Spitsbergen Current is the primary importer of ocean heat to the High Arctic, and is responsible for maintaining the sea-ice free conditions in the Norwegian Sea, detailed knowledge of the history of this current is critical to a complete understanding of the transition form the last glaciation to the present warm, interglacial climate state. Thermohaline processes on the broad Arctic margin shelves play an important role in the thermohaline circulation of the Arctic Seas. This project will examine whether the West Spitsbergen Continental Shelf was glaciated during the Last Glacial Maximum (approximately 18 thousand years ago). Ship time is provided at no charge to this proposal by the Norwegian Polar Research Institute.
