Nares Strait is a narrow passage between northern Ellesmere Island and Greenland, with orographic features reaching 500-2000 m on both sides, which tend to channel the surface winds along the strait. These winds will drive ocean surface currents and ice motion in the strait. Thus, in order to understand the variability and forcing of freshwater fluxes through Nares Strait, it is important to develop quantitative estimates of local surface winds. In the present study, a high-resolution embedded mesoscale atmospheric model is used to obtain these estimates.

The work highlighted here is part of the Canadian Archipelago Throughflow Study (CATS), a coordinated, multi-investigator program whose goal is to understand and estimate flow through the main passages of the Canadian Archipelago, including Nares Strait and Jones Sound, Barrow Strait, the downstream flow through Davis Strait and circulation and water-mass properties in the upstream Arctic source region. This freshwater export can have global implications, as it enters the North Atlantic precisely in the regions where deep North Atlantic waters are formed, in the Nordic and Labrador Seas. The field program for the Nares Strait component of CATS began with hydrographic surveys and mooring deployments in July-August 2003, and will continue through summer 2007.