Abstract:

The hydrographic feature and water masses in the Bering Sea and the Chukchi Sea are analyzed on the basis of the observations of the first Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition. The results show that:(1)The distribution of temperature and salinity present obvious regional difference in both the Bering Sea and the Chukchi Sea. (2)The Intermediate Cold Water, which is the main feature of the temperature vertical structure, occurred in the depth between 20 and 250m in the most areas of the Bering Sea in summer.(3)Both the temperature and the salinity decrease obviously in the sea areas north of 70°N, where a thermobaline front is formed.(4)There are three and two kinds of different water masses in the Bering Sea and the Chukchi Sea respectively.