New Data on the Cross-Structure of Lateral Suspension Flows
in the Barents Sea Periphery

N. A. Aibulatov, V. A. Matyushenko, V. P. Shevchenko,
N. V. Politova, and E. M. Potekhina

Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences,
ul. Krasikova, 23, Moscow, 117218 Russia

Received November 1, 1998

Abstract—The paper deals with the cross-structure of lateral suspension streams inflowing and outflowing the
Barents Sea. They include anthropogenic pollutants (petrochemicals, radionuclides, and heavy metals). On the
basis of combined oceanographic and geoenvironmental investigations, the cross-structure of lateral flows is
studied in this basin; the presence of a nepheloid layer is registered; the glaciers reaching out into fjords are
shown to be insignificant suppliers of solid matter to the suspension in the open part of the Barents Sea. In this
connection, it is proven that the radionuclide efflux from the dumping sites of solid radioactive wastes in the
fjords of Novaya Zemlya and the Chernaya Bay is negligible.