NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL 

 Monterey, California 



Rear Admiral Mason B. Freeman 

 Superintendent 



M. U. Clauser 

 Provost 



ABSTRACT: 



Temperature and salinity measurements were made in and near the 

 ice in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas with a continuously profiling in- 

 strument in August of 1971 and 1972 as a part of the MIZPAC Program. 

 Warm water of Bering Sea origin was found south of the ice in all of the 

 area surveyed, layered sharply on top of cold water. Complex tempera- 

 ture and sound- velocity profiles were found near the Alaskan Coast 

 north of the ice margin, diminishing in intensity toward the interior of 

 the ice pack but still noticeable 30 miles inside the ice boundary. 

 West of the coastal zone, to 167° W, the phenomena were much milder 

 and more quickly damped by the ice. The coastal current was observed 

 to turn, perhaps branch-, &nd flow along the Beaufort Sea slope, below 

 the surface at a depth of 25-50 m, to a longitude of 152° W. Other in- 

 formation indicates that it maintains its identity for at least another 

 100 miles eastward. 



This task was supported by: 



Arctic Submarine Laboratory,' Naval Undersea 

 Center, San Diego, California under Purchase 

 Orders Nos. 2-0054 and 3-0035 



CJC^u^ ^4L.^d^ 



R. G. Paquette 



R. H. Bourke 



Approved by: 



Released by: 



3Ji^ 



h 



-a^A) 



'^^.. 



D. F. Leipper 



Chairman 



Department of Oceanography 



M.O 



Jo^ M. Wozen 

 Dean of Research 



lr# 



NPS-58PA73111A 

 November 1973 



