III. physical oceanographic observations 



TEMPERATURE AND SALINITY STRUCTURE 



The USS NEREUS hove to four times each day in the shal- 

 low areas of the Bering and Chukchi Seas for vertical series 

 of temperature, salinity, and other oceanographic observations. 

 The locations of these hydrographic stations are shown in 

 figure 13. Thirty-nine hydrographic stations were obtained 

 north of the Aleutian Islands, twenty-two of these being located 

 north of Bering Strait in the Chukchi Sea. 



Several previous oceanographic cruises, notably those 

 conducted by the U. S. Coast Guard in 1934, 15 and in 1937- 

 1938,^ have made fairly complete investigations of the eastern 

 Bering Sea and Norton Sound. However, relatively little data 

 have previously been obtained in the central Chukchi Sea area. 

 The U. S. Coast Guard cruises in the summers of 1937 and 

 1938 occupied a number of stations along the Alaskan coast 

 from Bering Strait nearly to Point Barrow, but these data 

 are not sufficient to show the lateral distribution of the physi- 

 cal variables. Sverdrup in the MAUD 12 obtained considerable 

 data between Herald Shoal and Wrangell Island but occupied 

 only two hydrographic stations east of 170°W in the Chukchi 

 Sea. Thus, the data taken during this cruise of the USS NEREUS 



Figure 13. Bathythermograph 

 and hydrographic station! used 

 for vertical sections. 



