Copyright © The Oceanographic Society of Japan. Spatial and Temporal Variability in a Vertical Section across the Alaskan Stream and Subarctic Current

• Main Author: Subarctic Gyre
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Pacific; Subarctic
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.517.6688; http://www.terrapub.co.jp/journals/JO/pdf/5701/57010079.pdf

from 48°N to 51.2°N. Vertical sections of 9-year means, anomalies for each year and others of potential temperature, salinity, potential density and geostrophic velocity (referred to 3000 m) were calculated based on this data set. Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis was adopted in the investigation of spatial characteristics and its temporal variation in vertical sections. The spatial distribution of the 1st mode EOF of velocity shows the westward Alaskan Stream and the eastward Subarctic Current. This mode explains 37.6 % of the total variance. Two positive maxims ap-pear in its amplitude in 1991 and 1997, which is similar to the variation in volume transport of the eastward Subarctic Current. These variations are closely related to the vertical movement of Ridge Domain deep water. Pacific was estimated to be 28 × 106 m3s–1 by geostrophic calculation referred to current meter measurements (Warren and Owens, 1988). Roden (1995) obtained a flow of 38 × 106 m3s–1 above 6000 dbar, with 9 × 106 m3s–1 below 1500 dbar. Reed and Stabeno (1999) obtained a