This paper reviews and synthesises available information on sediment transport to the Arctic Ocean and adjoining seas with open contact to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Special emphasis is placed on calculation and estimation of the sediment flux from the mostly ungauged high Arctic areas on the American continent, in Greenland, and on islands in the Arctic Ocean, and from Russia. In the absence of reliable information on bedload fluxes for most rivers, attention is directed primarily to suspended sediment loads. By combining available monitoring data and estimates for ungauged areas, the total sediment transport to the Arctic Ocean is estimated to be 324–884 × 106 t yr−1. Of this total, a maximum of about 56% can be considered as monitored, while the rest is based on different types of estimate. It is clearly demonstrated that the monitoring network in the high Arctic is inadequate and that there is a lack of knowledge concerning the proportion of the load that actually reaches the sea, as well as bedload.
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Research Article|
August 01 2006
Sediment transport to the Arctic Ocean and adjoining cold oceans*
Bent Hasholt;
1Institute of Geography, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 10, DK-1350 Copenhagen, K, Denmark
E-mail: [email protected]
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Nelly Bobrovitskaya;
Nelly Bobrovitskaya
2State Hydrologic Institute, St. Petersburg,, Russia
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Jim Bogen;
Jim Bogen
3Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate, Oslo, Norway
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James McNamara;
James McNamara
4Department of Geosciences, Boise State University, Boise, ID 83725, USA
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Sebastian H. Mernild;
Sebastian H. Mernild
1Institute of Geography, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 10, DK-1350 Copenhagen, K, Denmark
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David Milburn;
David Milburn
5Water Resources Division, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, X1A 2R3, Canada
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Desmond E. Walling
Desmond E. Walling
6Department of Geography, University of Exeter, Exeter, Essex, EX4 4RJ, UK
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Hydrology Research (2006) 37 (4-5): 413–432.
Article history
Received:
January 30 2006
Accepted:
May 29 2006
Citation
Bent Hasholt, Nelly Bobrovitskaya, Jim Bogen, James McNamara, Sebastian H. Mernild, David Milburn, Desmond E. Walling; Sediment transport to the Arctic Ocean and adjoining cold oceans*. Hydrology Research 1 August 2006; 37 (4-5): 413–432. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/nh.2006.023
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