The Bering Strait as a Super Strait

Florida State University, Tallahassee FL

Investigators

Abstract

Because of its associated northward fluxes of heat and salt, the flow through the Bering Strait is important to the present climate of the northern hemisphere and paleoceanographic proxy data suggests that it has also been critical to the paleoclimate of the region. Recent theoretical work suggests that the mean oceanic conditions in the Bering Strait are only marginally affected by the local wind and local buoyancy forcing. Rather, the primary (responsible) forcings are purported to be the global buoyancy field and the global wind field. Funds are provided to examine this new idea using a hierarchy of models ranging from simple process-oriented numerical models to ocean general circulation and climate models. The project's specific goals are: i. to determine what role the global wind field plays in determining the flow rate through the Bering Strait, and ii. to determine whether the abrupt warming at the end of the last glaciation resulted in part from the opening of the Bering Strait (induced by sea level rise).