FY 1998

Confirmation of a convoluted flow over the southeastern Bering Sea shelf

Reed, R.K.

Cont. Shelf Res., 18(1), 99–103, doi: 10.1016/S0278-4343(97)00069-1 (1998)

Data from 16 CTD sections during spring 1979-1981 were used to derive mean geopotential topography and geostrophic flow (and its variability). Inshore of 100 m, there was a weak (~1.5 cm s⁻¹) but quite stable southeastward flow, with a horizontal extent of at least 60 km. Offshore of 100 m, an even wider northwestward flow of 4-6 cm s⁻¹ was present, with a suggestion of anticyclonic eddies in the region ~20% of the time. Inshore of 100 m, however, eddy activity was quite rare. The main features from the synoptic data are virtually identical to those in a recent study using spatially averaged climatological data.