FY 2003

Variability of physical and chemical characteristics along the 70-m isobath of the southeast Bering Sea

Stabeno, P.J., N.B. Kachel, M. Sullivan, and T.E. Whitledge

Deep-Sea Res. Pt. II, 49(26), doi: 10.1016/S0967-0645(02)00327-2, 5931–5943 (2002)

From observations of ice cover, temperature, salinity, currents and nitrate, it is evident that along-shelf variability was significant over the middle shelf of the eastern Bering Sea, but less distinct than that observed in the cross-shelf domains. Along the 70-m isobath, three zones were evident in the summer: the southeastern cold pool (centered at ~57°N); an intermediate zone, consisting of warmer water, with weaker stratification; and the northern cold pool, extending northward from 58°N. Small-scale (~20 km) horizontal features that persisted for months were common. Nutrient concentrations were related to salinity and were replenished more uniformly over the southern shelf, than north of the Pribilof Islands. Although mean currents were weak (~1 cm s^-1), short energetic advective events impacted the temperature and salinity structure.