Diatom distribution of surface sediment in the Bering Sea and Chukchi Sea

Sediment plumes, released to the Bering Sea from the delta front of the Yukon River, Alaska, are initiated mainly by glacier-melt sediment runoffs in the glacierized regions of the Yukon River drainage basin. The surface sediment plumes are extended around the fan-shaped Yukon River delta, which is followed by the northwestward dispersion. During continuous measurements of the Yukon River discharge and sediment load, behaviors of the sediment plumes were explored by shipboard and coastal observations in the Bering Sea. At the high river sediment load of ca. 2500 kg/s, the plume partially plunged into the sea bottom layer. The plunging probably originated in the nepheloid-layer formation from the flocculation of river-suspended sediment, of which more than 90% wt. is silt and clay (grain size d < 63 μm). In order to numerically obtain the area of the surface sediment plumes, a satellite image analysis was performed by using three near-infrared bands in MODIS/Aqua or MODIS/Terra. The plume area was significantly correlated (R2 = 0.735, p < 0.01) to the sediment load averaged for the two days with time lags of 20 days and 21 days to the date of a certain satellite image. Hence, the dispersion of plume-suspended sediment appears to be controlled by the sediment runoff events in the Yukon River rather than the northward “Alaskan Coastal Water”.

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Water masses and fish communities in north-western part of the Bering Sea and western part of the Chukchi Sea in 2003–2010

Trudy VNIRO ◽

10.36038/2307-3497-2018-173-137-156 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 173 ◽

pp. 137-156

Author(s):

G. V. Khen ◽

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E. O. Basyuk ◽

K. K. Kivva ◽

◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bering Sea ◽

Chukchi Sea ◽

Fish Communities ◽

Water Masses ◽

North Western ◽

The Bering Sea

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Migration and Feeding of the Gray Whale (Eschrichtius gibbosus)

Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada ◽

10.1139/f62-051 ◽

1962 ◽

Vol 19 (5) ◽

pp. 815-838 ◽

Cited By ~ 44

Author(s):

Gordon C. Pike

Keyword(s):

British Columbia ◽

Bering Sea ◽

Chukchi Sea ◽

Close Contact ◽

Gulf Of Alaska ◽

Bering Strait ◽

Visual Contact ◽

Gray Whales ◽

Baleen Whales ◽

The Bering Sea

Observations of gray whales from the coasts of British Columbia, Washington, and Alaska are compared with published accounts in order to re-assess knowledge of migration and feeding of the American herd. Source of material is mainly from lighthouses and lightships.The American herd of gray whales retains close contact with the shore during migration south of Alaska. Off Washington and British Columbia the northward migration begins in February, ends in May, and is at a peak during the first two weeks in April; the southward migration occurs in December and January, and is at a peak in late December. Northward migrants stop occasionally to rest or feed; southward migrants are travelling faster and appear not to stop to rest or feed during December and January. Gray whales seen off British Columbia, sometimes in inside protected waters, from June through October, probably remain in this area throughout the summer and fall months.Available evidence suggests that gray whales retain contact with the coast while circumscribing the Gulf of Alaska, enter the Bering Sea through eastern passages of the Aleutian chain, and approach St. Lawrence Island by way of the shallow eastern part of the Bering Sea. Arriving off the coast of St. Lawrence Island in May and June the herd splits with some parts dispersing along the Koryak coast and some parts continuing northward as the ice retreats through Bering Strait. Gray whales feed in the waters of the Chukchi Sea along the Siberian and Alaskan coasts in July, August and September. Advance of the ice through Bering Strait in October initiates the southern migration for most of the herd. In summering areas, in northern latitudes, gray whales feed in shallow waters on benthic and near-benthic organisms, mostly amphipods.There is no evidence to indicate that gray whales utilize ocean currents or follow the same routes as other baleen whales in their migrations. Visual contact with coastal landmarks appear to aid gray whales in successfully accomplishing the 5000-mile migration between summer feeding grounds in the Bering and Chukchi Seas and winter breeding grounds in Mexico.Reconstruction of the migration from all available data shows that most of the American herd breeds and calves in January and February, migrates northward in March, April and May, feeds from June through October, and migrates southward in November and December.

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Occurrence of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) together with sediment properties in the surface sediments of the Bering Sea, Chukchi Sea and Canada Basin

Chemosphere ◽

10.1016/j.chemosphere.2012.05.033 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 88 (11) ◽

pp. 1340-1345 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Qingquan Hong ◽

Yun Wang ◽

Xiaojun Luo ◽

Shejun Chen ◽

Jigang Chen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Polychlorinated Biphenyls ◽

Bering Sea ◽

Surface Sediments ◽

Chukchi Sea ◽

Canada Basin ◽

Sediment Properties ◽

The Bering Sea

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Demersal Fish Diversity and Molecular Taxonomy in the Bering Sea and Chukchi Sea

10.21203/rs.3.rs-327037/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

xuehua wang ◽

Yuan Li ◽

Nan Zhang ◽

Puqing Song ◽

Ran Zhang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Dna Barcoding ◽

Bering Sea ◽

Chukchi Sea ◽

Molecular Taxonomy ◽

Demersal Fish ◽

Fish Diversity ◽

Dna Barcodes ◽

The Family ◽

Arctic Fish ◽

The Bering Sea

Abstract DNA barcoding by sequencing a standard region of cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COⅠ) provides an accurate, rapid method for identifying different species. In this study, we provide a molecular taxonomic assessment of demersal fishes in the Bering Sea and Chukchi Sea based on DNA barcoding, and a total of 123 mitochondrial COⅠ partial fragments with a length of 652 bp were obtained. The consensus among all sequences was determined by alignment via a BLAST search in GenBank. Phylogenetic relationships were reconstructed on the basis of neighbor-joining (NJ) trees and barcoding gaps. The 39 species investigated in this analysis were distributed among 10 families. Five families within Scorpaeniformes including 19 species accounted for almost half of the species. The next largest group was Perciformes, with 9 species, followed by Pleuronectiformes and Gadiformes, with 5 species each, and the smallest number of species belonged to Rajiformes. At the family level, Cottidae was the largest family, followed by Zoarcidae, accounting for 8 species. The other eight families—Gadidae, Pleuronectidae, Psychrolutidae, Agonidae, Liparidae, Ammodytidae, Hexagrammidae, and Rajidae—accounted for a smaller proportion of species. In brief, our study shows that DNA barcodes are an effective tool for studying fish diversity and phylogeny in the Bering Sea and Chukchi Sea. The contribution of DNA barcoding to identifying Arctic fish species may benefit further Arctic fish studies on biodiversity, biogeography and conservation in the future.

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Low-Level Atmospheric Responses to the Sea Surface Temperature Fronts in the Chukchi and Bering Seas

Frontiers in Marine Science ◽

10.3389/fmars.2021.598981 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

Author(s):

Yoshimi Kawai

Keyword(s):

Sea Ice ◽

Surface Temperature ◽

Bering Sea ◽

Diabatic Heating ◽

Chukchi Sea ◽

Western Boundary ◽

Turbulent Heat ◽

Near Surface ◽

Low Level ◽

The Bering Sea

Atmospheric responses to ocean surface temperature (ST) fronts related to western boundary currents have been extensively analyzed over the last two decades. However, the organized near-surface response to ST, which is defined as the temperature of open water and sea ice, excluding land surface, at higher latitudes where sea ice exists has been rarely investigated due to the difficulties of observations. Here, 32 years of high-resolution atmospheric reanalysis data are analyzed to determine the atmospheric responses to ST fronts in the Bering Sea and Chukchi Sea. In the Chukchi Sea, the convergence of 10-m-high wind increases in October and November, when the horizontal gradient and Laplacian of ST become noticeable. On the other hand, an ST contrast between the continental shelf and the southwestern deep basin develops in winter in the Bering Sea. In both seas, the spatial distribution of surface wind convergence and the Laplacians of ST and sea level pressure agree well with each other, demonstrating the pressure adjustment mechanism. The vertical mixing mechanism is also confirmed in both seas. Ascending motion and diabatic heating develop over the Chukchi Sea in late autumn, but are confined to the lower troposphere. Turbulent heat fluxes at the surface become especially large in this season, resulting in an increase of diabatic heating and low-level clouds. Low-level clouds and downward shortwave radiation exhibit contrasting behavior across the shelf break in the Bering Sea that corresponds to the ST distribution, which is regulated by the bottom topography.

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