diagrams for stations N14 and N15. These stations show 

 fairly similar T-S curves. The low-salinity surface water in- 

 dicative of melting is present to a greater or less degree on 

 all curves. The spread of the curves in the central portion of 

 the diagram is related to the amount of mixing between the 

 low-salinity melt water and higher -salinity water. The higher - 

 salinity, relatively warm water found at mid-depths seems to 

 have originated in the Bering Sea and in this locality appears 

 as a wedge between the surface melt water and the uniform 

 bottom water that is found on all these T-S plots. The cold, 

 relatively high-salinity water (33 o/oo), found on the bottom 

 at all these stations, is probably the result of winter freezing. 

 Because the freezing point is lowered by the presence of salt, 

 relatively fresh water freezes first, especially in slow freez- 

 ing. The result is that the water just below the freezing layer 

 becomes more concentrated, and, since it is also being cooled, 

 it becomes heavier than the underlying water and sinks to the 

 bottom. Since this bottom water is probably formed in winter 

 throughout the Chukchi Sea (probably in the northern part of 

 the Bering Sea also), the failure of this high-salinity bottom 

 water to appear farther south than station N14 is indicative 

 of a northward transport along the bottom at the stations in 

 the southern and central Chukchi Sea. 



Nearer the Alaskan coast the T-S plots show higher 

 temperatures and lower salinities, as can be seen for sta- 

 tions N20, N21, and N22 (fig. 38). Also shown on figure 38 

 are the T-S relationships for stations N26 and N27, in the 

 southeastern part of the Chukchi Sea, and for stations N33, 

 N34, and N35, located along the Alaskan coast south of Bering 

 Strait, and in Norton Sound. The similarity of the T-S plots 

 between these latter stations in the northeastern Bering Sea 

 and the stations in the southeastern section of the Chukchi 

 Sea further confirms the pattern of flow discussed under 

 Dynamic Topography and Currents. 



The vertical thermal structure in both Kotzebue and 

 Norton Sounds is characterized by large, sharp thermal 

 gradients and by lower-salinity water. The surface layer 

 temperatures in these areas were the highest encountered 

 on this cruise. Examples of temperature -depth and salinity- 

 depth curves from Kotzebue and Norton Sounds are shown in 

 figure 39. 



A more detailed presentation of the surface temperature 

 conditions is obtained from a continuous temperature trace 

 made aboard the submarine USS BOARFISH by means of a 

 CXJC instrument during the run northward from the north 

 Bering Sea through the central Chukchi Sea to the ice pack 



