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Current research focuses on two main topics: (1) the physical and chemical property distributions and (2) the velocity structure in the vicinity of the Date Line, from the Bering Sea to the Fiji Islands.
The Bering Sea, because of its isolation and uniqueness of its deep and abyssal waters, was investigated first. It was found that the abyssal waters in this sea were warmer (0.1°C), less salty (0.01), less dense (0.01 kg/m3), poorer in oxygen (50 µmol/kg), nitrates (1.0 µmol/kg), and phosphates (0.3 µmol/kg) than at comparable depths outside. Fast, deep boundary currents were found both north and south of the Aleutian ridge, with the Alaska Stream having a westward transport of 38 Sv relative to the bottom. An interesting discovery in the Bering Sea was made by Mark Warner, who found elevated CFC levels at the bottom, suggestive of recent ventilation. These findings have been published by Roden (JGR, 1995) and Warner and Roden (Nature, 1995).
Analysis of physical and chemical property and flow structures between the Aleutians and Fiji is in progress. Preliminary findings indicate good agreement between the calculated and observed (ADCP) zonal flows in the upper 500 m, outside the equatorial belt between 3°N and 3°S, where the calculated speeds are overestimated. During the summer of 1993, the Alaska Stream, subarctic current, Kuroshio extension and north equatorial currents were all well expressed in the vicinity of the Date Line, while a banded flow structure was observed in the interior of the subtropical gyre. Around the equator, El Niño type conditions were encountered: absence of expected SE tradewinds between 2°N and 9°S, abundant rainfall with squall lines from the north and west, eastward surface flow along the equator, and merging of the north equatorial countercurrent with the equatorial undercurrent.
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