BASIN-WIDE DISTRIBUTIONS OF CHLOROFLUOROCARBONS CFC-11 AND CFC-12 IN THE NORTH PACIFIC - 1985-1989

All of the dissolved chlorofluorocarbon measurements made between 1985 and 1989 along several long zonal and meridional hydrographic section s in the North Pacific are presented in this manuscript. Chlorofluoroc arbon (CFC) concentrations are displayed as functions of depth and den sity along the sections. Over much of the region studied, dissolved CF Cs are observed to have penetrated to densities greater than those tha t outcrop at the surface in the North Pacific (sigma(theta) > 26.8). M axima in CFC concentration are associated with remnant winter mixed la yers and with mode waters. When the observed CFC concentrations from t hese sections are normalized to a common date and mapped onto five den sity surfaces in the North Pacific, it becomes apparent that the Sea o f Okhotsk is an important location for the ventilation of the intermed iate waters of the North Pacific. The CFC observations are used togeth er with hydrographic data to study the pathways and timescales of circ ulation and ventilation processes in the upper and intermediate waters of the North Pacific. Using models of the increases of these compound s as a function of time, CFC ''apparent ages'' are calculated on these isopycnal surfaces. The CFC apparent ages are used together with obse rved apparent oxygen utilization to estimate oxygen utilization rates along these sections.