Abstract

In summer 1995, the Alaskan Stream at 173.5W was very intense; the peak geostrophic speed was ≈125 cm s−1, and the computed volume transport above 1000 db, referred to 1000 db, was 9 × 106 m3 s−1). Flow north of the central Aleutians was shallow, convoluted and weak (2– 3 × 106 m3 s−1). A sequence of CTD casts across Amukta Pass, spaced irregularly in time during 1993–1996, showed a mean northward (southward) geostrophic transport of 1.0 (0.4) × 106 m3 s−1, for a net flow into the Bering Sea of 0.6 × 106 m3 s−1. The source of this flow was the Alaskan Stream except in 1995, when it was Bering Sea water. Results from two 13-month current moorings west and east of the pass were quite different. To the west, flow was weak and variable and appeared to have a barotropic component. To the east, flow was stronger and unidirectional eastward.

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