| Abstract: | A high-resolution Arctic Ocean-Finite Volume Community Ocean Model(AO-FVCOM) and observational current data from 14 mooring stations in Bering Strait and surrounding regions between 1990 and 2015 were used to study the seasonal and interannual variability of Bering Strait throughflow(BST). AO-FVCOM represented the BST with a climatological northward flux of 1.06 Sv, which was close to the observational mean of 0.94 ? 0.26 Sv. From the model results, the strongest volume flux was in summer, approximately 45% larger than that in winter. Interannual variability of BST was also indicated in the model results, and the maximum and minimum annual mean transports are in 2007 and 2012, respectively. AO-FVCOM showed larger differences from the observations in 2000, 2002, and 2015 than in other years, which may be related to the limitation of atmospheric forcing for the model. According to the driving mechanisms of BST, sea level difference(SLD) across the strait dominates the northward volume transport, and local wind is also important in forcing the seasonal variability of the BST and SLD patterns to change the BST indirectly. |
