FY 1997

Long-term measurements of flow near the Aleutian Islands

Reed, R.K., and P.J. Stabeno

J. Mar. Res., 55(3), 565–575, doi: 10.1357/0022240973224328 (1997)

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.