NANSEN’S CONTRIBUTION TO PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY

Abstract

The article lists the main results of Nansen’s work in the field of physical oceanography. It tells about the results and ideas of Nansen in the field of arctic drifting measuring platforms, a bathometer, a hydrometer, a bottom current meter and unique sleds. The merits of Nansen in the field of regional oceanography are described: debunking the theory of the “open polar ocean”, measuring the depths of the Arctic Basin, estimating the trajectory and velocity of the transarctic drift, the dependence of the drift velocity and direction on the wind, factors determining the speed ice accretion, discovery and description of surface and warm (Atlantic) intermediate water masses in the Arctic. We are also talking about the processes in the ocean, which Nansen first measured, and then, together with Ekman, described them with mathematical formulas.