FY 1996

On the variable subsurface environment of fish stocks in the Bering Sea

Reed, R.K.

Fish. Oceanogr., 4(4), doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2419.1995.tb00076.x, 317–323 (1995)

Data from 1971 to 1993 are used to examine characteristics and variability of the subsurface temperature maximum in the Aleutian Basin of the Bering Sea. The temperature of this feature varies from ~3.5 to 4.6°C at depths of ~150-400 m, and sigma-t density is usually in the range 26.6-26.9. The variability is caused mainly by the absence or presence of inflow of warm, low-density Alaskan Stream water through Amukta Pass. Thus the environment of fish stocks is far from uniform.