Marginal Sea Ice Zone Oceanographic Measurements, Bering and Chukchi Seas, 1973 and 1974

• Main Authors: Garrison,G. R., Becker,P.
• Other Authors: WASHINGTON UNIV SEATTLE APPLIED PHYSICS LAB
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1975
• Subjects: Physical and Dynamic Oceanography; Soil Mechanics; Snow; Ice and Permafrost; *Sea ice; *Chukchi Sea; *Bering Sea; Thermal properties; Microstructure; Straits; Ocean currents; Fluid flow; Heating; Sea water; Oceanographic data; Surveys; Intrusion; Arctic regions; Underwater sound; Alaska; Bering Strait; Wrangel Island; Barrow(Alaska); Arctic; Bering Sea; Chukchi Sea; Barrow; Chukchi; Ice; permafrost; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA018763; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA018763

Oceanographic surveys were conducted in the Bering Sea, the Bering Strait and the Chukchi Sea to study the summer intrusion of warm water into the Chukchi Sea. The northward movement of warmed Bering Sea water starts early in July and enters the Chukchi Sea in two areas: A narrow current along the coast which normally proceeds past Barrow, and a broad flow northward which passes to the east of Wrangel Island and gradually spreads into a thick surface layer across the Chukchi Sea. The zone of contact between intrusion and existing arctic water contains the thermal microstructure that is such a problem to the acoustician. The intrusion appears to stop in September as the surface-cooled waters begin to spread southward. Thermal microstructure also appears near Barrow in the spring as the deeper Atlantic water rises and partially mixes with the colder arctic water.