Confirmation of a convoluted flow over the southeastern bering sea shelf

Data from 16 CTD sections during spring 1979–1981 were used to derive mean geopotential topography and geostrophic flow (and its variability). Inshore of 100 m, there was a weak (∼1.5 cm s-1) but quite stable southeastward flow, with a horizontal extent of at least 60 km. Offshore of 100 m, an even wider northwestward flow of 4–6 cm s-1 was present, with a suggestion of anticyclonic eddies in the region ∼20% of the time. Inshore of 100 m, however, eddy activity was quite rare. The main features from the synoptic data are virtually identical to those in a recent study using spatially averaged climatological data.