PREVIOUS INFORMATION 



Previous knowledge of the vertical temperature 

 and salinity structure was based almost entirely upon 

 pre-World War II observations. Some of the first 

 observations to depths greater than 100 fathoms were 

 11 serial observations of temperature only, made 

 by the U. S. Fish Commission steamer Albatross in 

 the years 1893 and 1895. 1 These observations, which 

 were made in conjunction with biological investiga- 

 tions, were located in the southeastern corner of 

 the deep Bering Sea primarily east of 173° W. In 

 the area between 175° W and 172° E and less than 

 80 miles into the Bering Sea from the Aleutian chain, 

 USS GANNETT occupied twenty oceanographic sta- 

 tions—temperature and salinity — in 1933 2 and USS 

 OGLALA occupied nineteen stations in 1935. :i In 1934 

 USCGC CHELAN made two sections along the con- 

 tinental slope between Unalaska Island and the 

 Pribilof Islands, 2 and in 1936 occupied several sta- 

 tions along and near the ridge between Attu Island 

 and the Komandorski Islands. 4 Some Russian obser- 

 vations of 1 932-1 933 r ' were also located along the 

 Aleutian Islands and the fringe of the deep Bering 

 Sea on the northwest, but we have been unable to 

 obtain the basic data for examination. 



After World War II, in 1948, USCGC NORTH- 

 WIND occupied four stations along the chain from 



1 C. H. Townsend, Dredging and Other Records of the 

 U. S. Fish Commission Steamer ALBATROSS, Commission of Fish 

 and Fisheries, Commission Report no. 1900, 1901. 



- C. A. Barnes and T. G. Thompson, Physical and Chemical 

 Investigations in Bering Sea and Portions of the North Pacific 

 Ocean, University of Washington, 1938. 



:1 USS OGLALA, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Man- 

 uscript Records, 1935. 



4 T. W. Voughan, ef al.. International Aspects of Ocea- 

 nography; Oceanographic Data and Provisions tor Oceanographic 

 Research, National Academy of Sciences, 1937. 



5 G. E. Ratmanoff, On the Hydrology of the Bering and 

 Chukchi Seas, Explorations of the Seas of the Far East, Hydro- 

 logic Institute, Leningrad, and Pacific Ocean Institute of. Fishing 

 Industry, Vladivostok, 1937. 



Unimak Pass to Tanaga Island, but sampled only to 

 depths of about 100 meters. 



During and since World War II, many bathyther- 

 mograph pbservations were made in the southern part 

 of the deep Bering Sea almost exclusively by U. S. 

 Navy vessels. Those observations of temperature ver- 

 sus depth to 450 feet taken between May 1942 and 

 August 1948 have been compiled and analyzed at 

 Scripps Institution of Oceanography to show the mean 

 monthly and seasonal sea-temperature distributions. 7 

 These data are very sparse north of 54° N. A series 

 of bathythermograms taken from USS NEREUS pro- 

 ceeding from Adak Island to St. Paul Island during 

 the summer of 1947 8 provided the only set from this 

 region from which a synoptic analysis of tempera- 

 ture distribution had been made prior to this report. 



In addition to the above physical observations, 

 the U. S. Navy Hydrographic Office has compiled 

 drift observations from ships. From these, a stream 

 drift chart of the world for the month of July has 

 been published, based upon observations received 

 over a 30-year period. 9 



Early investigators generally concluded that the 

 character of the water mass in the deep Bering Sea 

 was the same as that of Pacific Subarctic Water. 

 There was less agreement as to the current structure. 

 The conclusions of Ratmanoff'' and as modified by 

 Goodman, ef al., 10 indicate a flow into the Bering 



fi C. W. Thomas, Physical and Zoological Investigations in 

 Bering Sea and Portions of the Arctic Ocean (CONFIDENTIAL), 

 Coast Guard, 1948. 



7 J. G. Pattullo ef al., Sea Temperature in the Aleutian 

 Island Area, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Oceanographic 

 Report no. 24, April 1950. 



8 E. C. LaFond ef a/., Oceanographic Measurements from 

 fhe USS NEREUS on a Cruise to the Bering and Chukchi Seas, 

 1947; Interim Report (RESTRICTED), NEL Report 91, 25 Feb- 

 ruary 1949. 



9 Hydrographic Office, H. O. Publication no. 1400, Stream 

 Drift Chart of the World, July (Back of H. O. 1400, Pilot Chart 

 of the North Pacific), July 1951. 



10 J. R. Goodman ef al., Physical and Chemical Investiga- 

 tions: Bering Sea, Bering Strait, Chukchi Sea, During the Sum- 

 mers of 1937 and 1938, University of Washington, 1942. 



