 The Freshwater Switchyard (S.Y.) is the region just upstream of the freshwater outflows through Nares Strait (west of northern Greenland) and Fram Strait (east of northern Greenland).
Depending on the ocean circulation (i.e., on the shape of the Beaufort Gyre, Transpolar Drift Stream, and North American Boundary Undercurrent in a particular year) the S.Y. region might see freshwater from either North American and Pacific origins, or Siberian river origins, or both.
So it’s like a train switchyard, where different “freshwater cargo” from various locations arrives on different tracks, and is rearranged on the trains and then sent out on different tracks to its final destination! Anyway, that’s the metaphor that we’re working with in this project… |
