FY 1999

A time series of temperature, salinity, and geopotential across the southeastern Bering Sea shelf, 1995–1999

Reed, R.K.

NOAA Tech. Report ERL 455-PMEL 43, NTIS: PB2000-100564, NOAA/Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, Seattle, WA, 15 pp (1999)

CTD (conductivity/temperature/depth) casts were taken during sixteen occupations of a standard section across the southeastern Bering Sea shelf during 1995-1999. Vertical sections of temperature and salinity, plus computed geopotential anomaly values, are presented here. Water temperatures varied from ~ -1 to 10°C, and salinities varied from ~31.3 to 33.1. Nontidal flow was organized but was generally <5 cm s. Six sections were obtained during 1997, a year with considerable sea ice. The melting sea ice produced low salinity (<31.4) that altered geopotential gradients inshore and reversed the typical southeastward geostrophic flow. Thus these waters are subject to large seasonal changes and occasional marked interannual ones.