Extended Measurements in Bering Strait

• Main Authors: Aagaard, Knut, Woodgate, Rebecca
• Other Authors: WASHINGTON UNIV SEATTLE APPLIED PHYSICS LAB
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2007
• Subjects: Physical and Dynamic Oceanography; *VARIATIONS; *CONTINENTAL SHELVES; *CHUKCHI SEA; *BERING STRAIT; *ARCTIC OCEAN; MEASUREMENT; SHIPBOARD; SEA WATER; MOORING; ACCUMULATION; VENTILATION; TIME SERIES ANALYSIS; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Bering Strait; Chukchi Sea; Chukchi Shelf; Pacific; Chukchi
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA466181; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA466181

We completed seven cruises in Bering Strait and the Chukchi Sea during 1999-2005. Both the shipborne measurements and nearly continuous moored data from 1990-2005 have been processed and archived. In six refereed papers and eleven presentations at national and international meetings, we have quantified the large variability found in the Pacific-origin waters that flush the western Arctic shelves. Eventually these shelf waters are discharged into the Arctic Ocean, where their seasonal and interannual variability are propagated long distances, leading to variability in regions far from the originating shelves. An understanding of these effects and processes is vital to realistically modeling the Arctic Ocean and its global connections, and our work has contributed significantly to this complex undertaking. For exaruple, the accumulated time series from Bering Strait, now over a decade-and-a- half long, provide a remarkable record of the upstream forcing of the Chukchi shelf, and thereby contribute to understanding the ventilation history of the Arctic Ocean halocline. The original document contains color images.