DIRECT MEASUREMENTS OF TRANSPORT AND WATER PROPERTIES THROUGH THE BERING STRAIT

Four years of temperature, salinity, and velocity data enable a direct computation of volume transport and a temporal description of water p roperties exchanged through the Bering Strait. The mean volume transpo rt over the 4-year period (September 1990 through September 1994) is 0 .83 Sv northward with a weekly standard deviation of 0.66 Sv. The maxi mum error in this mean estimate is 30%. Interannual variability in tra nsport is typically 0.1 Sv but can, at times, reach nearly 50% of the mean. The transport of 1.14 Sv during the first 9 months of 1994 is th e largest in the last 50 years. The rate of winter salinity increase i s very similar from year to year, suggesting regional average ice form ation of about 5 cm d(-1). The amplitude of the annual salinity cycle is about 2 psu, with salinity reaching a maximum in early April. There can be large interannual variations in the salinity (about 1), partic ularly in winter. Background autumn salinities average 32.0 in the eas tern and 32.6 in the western channel.