The Norwegian Current (also known as the Norway Coastal Current) is one of two dominant arctic inflows of water. It can be traced from near Shetland, north of Scotland, otherwise from the eastern North Sea at depths of up to 100 metres. It finally passes the Opening into the Barents Sea, a large outcrop of the Arctic Ocean. Compared to its partial source the North Atlantic Current (which otherwise loops into the East Greenland Current) it is colder and less salty; the other sources are the less saline North and Baltic seas and the Norwegian fjords and rivers. It is considerably warmer and saltier than the Arctic Ocean, which is freshened by precipitation and ice in and around it. Winter temperatures in the flow are typically between 2 and 5 °C — the co-parent North Atlantic flow, a heat remnant of its Gulf Stream chief contributor, exceeds 6 °C. Norwegian coastal waters are dominated by two main water masses, the Norwegian Coastal Current and the North Atlantic Drift Water (Atlantic Water). As the Norwegian Coastal Current moves northward, North Atlantic Drift Water is mixed in, raising the salinity (see Salinity below). The current is both wind-driven, “piling up” of water along the Norwegian coast by southwesterly winds (creating elevation and thus pressure differences), and also driven by its salinity distribution which in turn creates density gradients. Sources It is composed primarily of outflow from the Baltic Sea (50% of its freshwater input) through the Skagerrak into the North Sea (10% of its freshwater input) circulation, joining with a fraction of the North Atlantic Drift (the western turn of the northward Gulf Stream). The current is seasonally affected but on average has inputs of fjords and rivers of Norway being 40% of its freshwater input. North-west of the Skagerrak (Baltic's access) the current has about 2100 m3/s of freshwater, 75% of which is Baltic outflow, 15% North Sea outflow and 10% runoff from Norway and Sweden It is thus seen from a saline osmotic pressure viewpoint as a continuation of the Baltic Current and means relatively less salty ocean water than would intuitively be expected counterbalances the naturally non-saline precipitation and ice melt topping up the Arctic (and outcrop Barents) Seas. The current uses the Norwegian Trench picking up fresh and brackish water. It is a surface current – it flows along the top 50–100 metres. As the current moves North