CIRCULATION IN THE BERING SEA BASIN OBSERVED BY SATELLITE-TRACKED DRIFTERS - 1986-1993

From 1986 through April 1993, 86 satellite-tracked buoys were deployed in the North Pacific and Bering Sea. Most of the buoys were drogued a t 40 m. A composite current pattern is derived using these data. The t wo principal currents (the Alaskan Stream and Kamchatka Current) are c learly evident. Eddy kinetic-mean kinetic energy ratios are low in the stream and along the western Bering Sea basin. An eastward flowing cu rrent occurred along the north flank of the Aleutian Islands; this flo w was modified by inflow at the passes. Westward flow occurred north o f 56-degrees-N; its source was the Bering Slope Current. The Kamchatka Current originated near 175-degrees-E along the Russian coast. Numero us eddies and meanders were observed in the Kamchatka Current; eddies were also present on the eastern side of the basin.