WATER MASS AND STRUCTURE 



As was indicated by previous investigations, the 

 water mass of the deep Bering Sea as defined by 

 the temperature-salinity relation is of the same char- 

 acter as the Pacific Subarctic Water which occurs 

 immediately south of the Aleutian Islands. An ex- 

 ception to this generality occurs especially between 

 TOO and 200 meters, where there is a pronounced 

 temperature minimum with a temperature usually 

 less than 2.5° C. (See fig. 1 for the vertical distribu- 

 tion of temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen 

 at station 19 which is typical of most of this area.) 

 Around 200 meters both the temperature and salinity 



increase sharply and the temperature reaches a flat 

 maximum of 3.6° C between 300 and 400 meters. 

 Below 400 meters the water mass is practically 

 identical with that of Pacific Subarctic Water. The 

 dissolved-oxygen content is high from the surface to 

 a depth around 150 meters and decreases rapidly 

 below that depth. The content remains around 0.5 

 ml per liter from around 600 meters to the limit of 

 the observations, which is typical of adjacent areas 

 of the Pacific. 



Only at station 23, which is but 20 nautical miles 

 north of the Aleutian chain, did the temperature 

 minimum fail to appear. A very weak temperature 

 minimum about 3° C or none at all appears in the 





■c o 



2 



4 6 9 







_— i— — ! ^*~; 





,^~" 





200- 



\ / 



\V 





'-600 



/ 1 

 | / 



] \ 

 \ 

 \ 

 \ 



\ s 



T \ 



\ 



\ 



800 



1 / 



/ 



\ 

 \ 



\ 

 \ 



1000 



1 / 

 1, ,/, 



\ 

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I 



1 1 1 ll 



Figure 1. Vertical distribution of 

 temperature, salinity, and dissolved 

 oxygen, station 19. 



Figure 2a. Temperature minimum, ° C. 



Figure 2b. Depth of temperature min- 

 imum, meters. 



