To get an overall understanding of the thermohaline circulation in the Arctic Ocean the processes and transports related to the freshwater balance play an important part. A large part of the southward freshwater transport occurs in the form of ice and liquid water within the East Greenland Current. Between 2000-02 a new type of mooring, where a long tube prevents damage of the instruments due to ice, was designed and deployed on the shelf in the East Greenland Current at 74°N. The mooring consisted of a 40 m long PVC tube that had floatation and two microcats built into. The microcats recorded the seasonal cycle of salinities and temperatures of the surface waters of the East Greenland Current (EGC).
The two year long records of temperature and salinity measurements showed how the stratification near the surface at 74°N changes during the course of the year and how it relates to the changing ice distribution. Seasonal changes in the EGC were visible in the upper 50 m of the water column. A relatively fresh, warm surface layer is formed by the melting of the ice during the summer, which is cooled down towards the freezing point in winter.