Closing the Mass Budget between Bering Strait and the Arctic Basin: The Chukchi Slope Current

After passing through Bering Strait, Pacific-origin water flows across the Chukchi Sea in different branches that ultimately exit the shelf and provide heat, freshwater, and nutrients to the interior basin. It is important, therefore, to understand where and by what mechanisms the water is fluxed offshore. We have compiled all known shipboard hydrographic sections occupied across the Chukchi shelfbreak and slope that include direct velocity measurements (shipboard ADCP or lowered ADCP). In all, there are 46 sections occupied during the months of May-October from 2002 to 2014, spanning the region from Barrow Canyon to approximately 168°W. The data reveal the presence of a surface-intensified, westward-flowing current over the continental slope, situated offshore of the eastward-flowing shelfbreak jet. We call this feature the Chukchi slope current, which exists under all wind conditions. Using these data plus previously published transport values in Bering Strait and the Beaufort shelfbreak jet, we attempt to close the mass budget of the Chukchi shelf. The mean heat transport of the Chukchi slope current during the summer months is estimated, which has the potential to melt a substantial amount of pack-ice in the Canada Basin and influence the geographical distribution of the ice melt.