“…Therefore, weaker Arctic Ocean density stratification together with an ice sheet covering the Barents Sea in the Saalian period could result in Atlantic water being restricted to the Eurasian Basin. This conceptual model, in which Atlantic water inflow persists, perhaps episodically, during glacial periods but is restricted to the Eurasian Basin is in agreement with evidence for Atlantic water inflow to the Norwegian-Greenland Sea and through the Fram Strait reported at 145, 165 and 180 ka (Hebbeln and Wefer, 1997;Lloyd et al, 1996). Furthermore, interpretations based on the occurrence of warm-water dinoflagellate cysts, benthic foraminifera and the abundance of biogenic calcite, indicate penetration of warm Atlantic waters to the northern Barents Sea margin, at least to the Franz Victoria Trough, during the later part of MIS 6, MIS 3 and MIS 2 (Knies et al, 2000;Knies and Stein, 1999;Matthiessen and Knies, 2001).…”