This study of the heat and volume transport from the Arctic Ocean through the Canadian Archipelago to Baffin Bay and the North Atlantic Ocean will be based at Resolute, NWT, Canada, and will examine the diapycnal exchange of energy, salt, and momentum among the various regional water masses. The observational phase will include measurements of the dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy, of the vertical temperature and salinity microstructure, and of the high resolution current structure. Barrow Strait is bathymetrically complex, consisting of several interconnecting narrow deep passages, partially isolated by relatively shallow sills. It is however the pathway for a significant fraction of the outflow from the Arctic Ocean. This work will be the first detailed investigation of the principal mechanisms responsible for the vertical diffusion of heat, salt, and momentum in this region. These not only affect the seasonal growth and melting of sea ice, but also modify the advective exchange rates by affecting the upwelling of deep warm water which is otherwise blocked by the shallow sills in the strait.
