N. G. Iakovlev
Institute of Numerical Mathematics, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Gubkina 8, Moscow, 117951 Russia
E-mail: iakovlev@inm.ras.ru
Received December 4, 1998; in final form, February 18, 1999
Abstract—A primitive-equation numerical ocean general circulation model is employed to reconstruct the nor-
mal September water circulation in the Barents Sea. The spatial resolution of the model makes it possible to
describe all major features of the bottom topography. Two experiments were carried out to estimate the influ-
ence of the water exchange between the Barents Sea and the adjacent water areas on the current pattern in the
sea. In the first experiment, mass fluxes at open boundaries are calculated by the formulas of the quasi-dynamic
method with the zero surface chosen at the bottom. Such an approach fails to reproduce the barotropic velocity
component of currents. In the second experiment, the mass fluxes at open boundaries were calculated with the
use of the data on the distribution of sea level obtained by a large-scale model of the entire Arctic Ocean. It was
shown that the Barents Sea water circulation is strongly barotropic. A change in the character of water exchange
affects not only the neighborhood of the sea boundaries but also the entire northern part of the sea.
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