Direct current measurements at Kruzenshterna strait in summer

Abstract

Flow measurements at Kruzenshterna Strait, one of the two major gaps connecting the Sea of Okhotsk and the North Pacific were performed with a Lowered Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler in summer of 1999. Nearly one-day time series at 2 stations were obtained by eleven consecutive casts, each being started every 2 and a half hours. The tidal components are estimated by least square fittings. The flow consists of a two layer exchange flow and the tide of the comparable magnitude. A volume transport of the upper layer is estimated to be 1.6 Sv (1 Sv = 106m3 /s) from the Okhotsk Sea to the North Pacific, while that of the lower layer is 1.3 Sv in the opposite direction. Hydrographic and oxygen data support the existence of the residual exchange flow.