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One way to learn about the ecosystem is to study forces on it and observe the responses.  One of the chief forcing agents on the world's oceans is weather.  The Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) is a climate feature that captures much of the variability in meteorological forcing over the Bering Sea and North Pacific Ocean.  For example, the progressional change in ocean temperature is well described by the PDO.  Phases seem to last a few tens of years, then change.  Physical and biological features also track the PDO.
 
 
Pacific Decadal Oscillation

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