The Subarctic and Northern Subtropical Fronts in the Eastern North Pacific Ocean in Spring

Abstract

A ESTRACT The subarctic and subtropical frontal zones of the eastern North Pacific Ocean were surveyed in June for five consecutive years starting in '1972. These surveys form the basis for a description of the complex frontal distributions and their year-to-year differences. The fronts appear as surface outcroppings of haloclines: the subarctic halocline where salinity increases with depth and the subtropical halocline where the opposite prevails. Between the fronts lies a transition zone where strong vertical gradients of salinity are generally absent. An