A survey of water masses in the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bussol Strait

In September of 1993, a World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) expedition to the Sea of Okhotsk collected hydrological data along a transect of the sea, located next to the northwest Pacific. Hydrological sampling was conducted at several stations over the Kuril Trench, and continued along a line passing through the Bussol Strait and across the Sea of Okhotsk to the continental mainland. The data collected on this voyage suggest that the Sea of Okhotsk plays only an indirect role in the formation of North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW) and that much of the water in the Sea of Okhotsk has resided there for some time. An exchange of waters at depth over the Bussol Sill is also suggested. This paper will discuss the properties of the water masses in the Sea of Okhotsk with respect to the collected data and focus on the exchange across the Bussol Strait. The residence time of water masses and the effect of winter cooling will also be described.Science, Faculty ofPhysics and Astronomy, Department ofGraduat