ICE PRODUCTIVITY IN RECURRING POLYNYAS ON THE KARA AND LAPTEV SEA SHELF ESTIMATED FROM LONG-TERM HYDROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS

I. A. Dmitrenko, S. A. Kirillov, V. A. Gribanov, and H. Kassens

Based on the data of winter hydrological surveys in 1960–2000 and satellite ice observations, an interannual variability of winter surface salinity distribution in the Kara and Laptev seas is investigated. It is shown that in the edge areas of the recurring flow polynyas, a doubled standard salinity deviation from its normal at the sea surface (3.4–5.2‰) can be considered as an estimate of the degree of salinization during ice formation in polynyas. A new technique is proposed to calculate climatic total ice productivity of recurring flow polynyas which is based on hydrological data instead of ice observations. Ice productivity is estimated through the thickness of the ice which is to be formed to increase climatic salinity in the surface layer by a magnitude of its doubled standard deviation. The calculated values of ice formation vary from 3.5 to 4.5 m and largely coincide with the earlier published data.