Preface. Acknowledgements. Summary Poem. Introduction. 1. Oceanic freshwater fluxes in the climate system; A. Stigebrandt. 2. Global atmospheric circulation patterns and relationships to Arctic freshwater fluxes; J.E. Walsh. 3. Atmospheric components of the Arctic Ocean freshwater balance and their interannual variability; R.G. Barry, M.C. Serreze. 4. Hydroclimatology of the Arctic drainage basin; L.C. Bowling, P.D. Lettenmaier, B.V. Matheussen. 5. The Arctic Ocean's freshwater budget: sources, storage and export; E.C. Carmack. 6. The Arctic Ocean freshwater budget of a climate General Circulation Model; H. Cattle, D. Cresswell. 7. Atmospheric components of the Arctic Ocean hydrologic budget assessed from Rawinsonde data; M.C. Serreze, R.G. Barry. 8. Reanalyses depictions of the Arctic atmospheric moisture budget; D.H. Bromwich, R.I. Cullather, M.C. Serreze. 9. Moisture transport to Arctic drainage basins relating to significant precipitation events and cyclogenesis; J.R. Gyakum. 10. Atmospheric climate models: simulation of the Arctic Ocean fresh water budget components; V.M. Kattsov, J.E. Walsh, A. Rinke, K. Dethloff. 11. Discharge observation networks in Arctic regions: computation of the river runoff into the Arctic Ocean, its seasonality and variability; W.E. Grabs, F. Portmann, T. de Couet. 12. Arctic river flow: a review of contributing areas; T.D. Prowse, P.O. Flegg. 13. The dynamics of river water inflow to the Arctic Ocean; I.A. Shiklomanov, A.I. Shiklomanov, R.B. Lammers, B.J. Peterson, C.J. Vorosmarty. 14. River input of water, sediment, major ions, nutrients and trace metals from Russian territory to the Arctic Ocean; V.V. Gordeev. 15. The dispersion of Siberian river flows into coastal waters: meteorological, hydrological and hydrochemical aspects; I.P. Semiletov, N.I. Savelieva, G.E. Weller, I.I. Pipko, S.P. Pugach, A.Yu. Gukov, L.N. Vasilevskaya. 16. The variable climate of the Mackenzie River basin: its water cycle and fresh water discharge; R.E. Stewart. 17. Arctic estuaries and ice: a positive-negative estuarine couple; R.W. Macdonald. 18. Satellite views of the Arctic Ocean freshwater balance; D.A. Rothrock, R. Kwok, D. Groves. 19. Tracer studies of the Arctic freshwater budget; P. Schlosser, B. Ekwurzel, S. Khatiwala, B. Newton, W. Maslowski, S. Pfirman. 20. Exchanges of freshwater through the shallow straits of the North American Arctic; H. Melling. 21. The transformations of Atlantic water in the Arctic Ocean and their significance for the freshwater budget; B. Rudels, H.J. Friedrich. 22. Modelling the variability of exchanges between the Arctic Ocean and the Nordic seas; R. Gerdes. 23. Sea ice growth, melt and modeling: a survey; M. Steele M., G.M. Flato. 24. Fresh water freezing/melting cycle in the Arctic Ocean; G.V. Alekseev, L.V. Bulatov, V.F. Zakharov. Subject Index.