Water properties and flow over the deep Bering Sea basin, summer 1991

Observational data from a joint U.S.-Russian cruise over the deep Bering Sea basin in August 1991 are analysed and discussed. The low-salinity surface water and warm subsurface water associated with the Alaskan Stream were not present in the Bering Sea. The surface geostrophic flow indicated a weak northward flow of mixed (relatively cold) water through western Near Strait. Some of this water eventually flowed into the Kamchatka Current, and the rest flowed southward through Amchitka Pass. Thus there was lack of a strong Alaskan tream inflow through Near Strait, plus a weak Kamchatka Current.