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Kugmallit Valley as a conduit for cross‐shelf exchange on the Mackenzie Shelf in the Beaufort Sea

2008; American Geophysical Union; Volume: 113; Issue: C2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1029/2006jc003591

2156-2202

William J. Williams, Humfrey Melling, Eddy C. Carmack, R. Grant Ingram,

Climate change and permafrost

Kugmallit Valley spans the midsection of a transect across the Mackenzie Shelf of the Beaufort Sea. Its greatest relief is 20 m, and its width is 20 km. Using a yearlong record of ice drift, ocean current, temperature, and salinity acquired near the center of the valley, we describe a pattern of flow that is correlated with wind stress and ice motion and discuss its similarity to flow within larger submarine canyons that cut through the shelf break. As in such canyons, there is enhanced cross‐shelf transport within Kugmallit Valley during upwelling‐favorable surface stress. The data also document the down‐valley flow of dense water from a flaw lead.