The water column in Nares Strait is characterized by cold and fresh Polar Water (PW) in the upper 50–100 m with warmer and more saline modified Atlantic Water (AW) below, separated by a strong halocline (Johnson et al., 2011; Münchow et al., 2014).
Halocline (Wikipedia) A halocline (or salinity chemocline), from the Greek words hals (salt) and klinein (to slope), refers to a layer within a body of water (water column) where there is a sharp change in salinity (salt concentration) with depth.