The water cools down while traveling North, causing it to become more dense. Like TomO tells, the water gets saltier due to the loss of salt from the ice mass*. The density of the water will therefore increase, resulting in the sinking of water parcels.
*Salt will be released from the sea-ice due to the difference in freezing point of salty water and fresh water. If the temp rises to just below 0*C fresh water will still be frozen, but (dependent on the salinity) the salty ice will melt due to the lower melting point of salty water. Therefore sea-ice will become fresh after a while, and brine is released into the seawater making it more saline.