An Estuarine Analogy in the Sub-Arctic Pacific Ocean

Abstract

It is shown that the features of an estuarine system occur northward of a sub-Arctic boundary in the Pacific Ocean.The limit of downward mixing from the surface is the limit (L) of the halocline. This is defined by a discontinuity in the logarithmic plot of salinity structure, where the salinity is nearly constant (33.8 ± 0.1‰). On this surface the transfer is uni-directional upward. Here the water masses being entrained into the halocline and upper zone may be identified by their temperature alone.