BERING STRAIT: PACIFIC GATEWAY TO THE ARCTIC 

- Mooring Data Archive     For Cruise data (CTD etc), go here

Corresponding author: Rebecca Woodgate (woodgate@apl.washington.edu)

Contributing PIs:
Rebecca Woodgate, Cecilia Peralta-Ferriz, Knut Aagaard , University of Washington, USA
 Tom Weingartner, Terry Whitledge , University of Alaska, Fairbanks, USA
Igor Lavrenov , Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, Russia

ONR High Latitude

NSF-Polar Programs
Noaa logo
NOAA Arctic Research
RUSALCA
 Back to High Latitude Dynamics
OVERVIEW
- Data Overview
- Research Overview
- Known Data Issues
- Citation for the data
- Bering Strait homepage
 DATA FILES
- Links by year to data in ascii format, readme, and archiving information

 DATA PRODUCTS
- Climatologies  - 1990-2004     2003-2015
- Processed Annual Means (properties and fluxes)
- Processed Monthly Means (properties and fluxes)
- Plots (1990-2002; later plots are in cruise reports)
- Links to cruise reports

Overview: This site contains data from mooring sites in the Bering Strait region, deployed from 1990 to present day, under various funding sources.  Not all moorings are deployed all years.  Data are generally from ca. 10m above bottom, as discussed in the header to the data files.

For research overview, please see two recent review papers:

Woodgate, R.A., 2018, Increases in the Pacific inflow to the Arctic from 1990 to 2015, and insights into seasonal trends and driving mechanisms from year-round Bering Strait mooring data,
Progress in Oceanography, 160, 124-154, doi:10.1016/j.pocean.2017.12.007

Woodgate, R.A., K.M.Stafford and F.G.Prahl, 2015, A Synthesis of Year-round Interdisciplinary Mooring Measurements in the Bering Strait (1990-2014) and the RUSALCA years (2004-2011)
Oceanography, 28(3):46-67, doi:10.5670/oceanog.2015.57

For more recent data, see

Woodgate R.A., and C. Peralta-Ferriz, 2021, Warming and Freshening of the Pacific Inflow to the Arctic from 1990-2019 implying dramatic shoaling in Pacific Winter Water ventilation of the Arctic water column, Geophysical Research Letters.

Woodgate, R.A., 2020, Freshening of the Pacific Inflow to the Arctic, ASOF conference presentation

And other papers, available on the Bering Strait website.
***   PLEASE QUOTE THESE CITATIONS WHEN PUBLISHING RESULTS USING THESE DATA ***

Schematic of Mooring Locations and main flows
Bering Strait Mooring Positions - Figure from Woodgate et al, 2015 TOS, doi:10.5670/oceanog.2015.57
Figure from Woodgate et al, 2015, Oceanography, doi://10.5670/oceanog.2015.57
          
- email us references which use these data, if there's something else you would like to see here, or if you have any problems!


ASCII MOORING DATA FILES
*** Before use of the data, please read the "readme" files, the file headers and KnownDataIssues ***

Mooring data covering the time period autumn 1990 to summer 2002
Readme file and Link to ftp site for data
** see KnownDataIssues re salinity issues**
The 1990-2005 data are also archived at JOSS/EOL as part of the SBI program, and have also been submitted to NODC  as Accession 0049437
 
Mooring data covering the time period summer 2002 to summer 2005
Readme file and Link to ftp site for data
The 1990-2005 data are also archived at JOSS/EOL as part of the SBI program, and have also been submitted to NODC  as Accession 0049437
Mooring data covering the time period summer 2005 to summer 2006
Readme file and Link to ftp site for data
The 2005-2006 data are archived at NODC as Accession 0013223.

Mooring data from the Russian Channel covering the time period summer 2004 to summer 2006
Readme file and Link to ftp site for data
The 2004-2006 Russian channel data have been submitted to NODC as Accession 0045300.
 
Mooring data covering the time period summer 2006 to summer 2007
Readme file and Link to ftp site for data
The 2006-2007 data have been submitted to NODC as Accession 0045300.
 
Mooring data covering the time period summer 2007 to summer 2009
Readme file and Link to ftp site for data
The 2007-2009 data have been submitted to NODC as Accession 0062860.
 
Mooring data covering the time period summer 2009 to summer 2010
Readme file and Link to ftp site for data
The 2009-2010 data have been submitted to NODC, as Accession number 0138582.
 
 Mooring data from the US Channel covering the time period summer 2010 to summer 2011
Readme file and Link to ftp site for data
The 2010-2011 US channel data have been submitted to NODC, as Accession number 0138583.
 Mooring data from the Russian Channel covering the time period summer 2010 to summer 2012
Readme file and Link to ftp site for data
The 2010-2012 Russian channel data have been submitted to NODC as Accession 0138174.
 
Mooring data from the US channel covering the time period summer 2011 to summer 2013
Readme file and Link to ftp site for data
** see KnownDataIssues re salinity issues**
The 2011-2013 US channel data have been submitted to NODC as Accession 0138173.
(No Bering Strait moorings were deployed in the Russian Channel in 2011 and 2012).
 
Mooring data from the US channel covering the time period summer 2013 to summer 2014
Readme file and Link to ftp site for data
** see KnownDataIssues re salinity issues**
The 2013-2014 US channel data have been submitted to NODC as Accession 0156230.
(Note the NODC archive currently contains erroneous A2-ADCP data - use the data from the above ftpsite instead)
(No Bering Strait moorings were deployed in the Russian Channel in 2013).
 
Mooring data from the US channel covering the time period summer 2014 to summer 2015
Readme file and Link to ftp site for data
** see KnownDataIssues re salinity issues**
The 2014-2015 US channel data have been submitted to NODC as Accession 0155760.
(One Bering Strait mooring (A1W) was deployed in the Russian Channel, but has not yet been recovered - contact Phyllis Stabeno.)
 
Mooring data from the US channel covering the time period summer 2015 to summer 2016
Readme file and Link to ftp site for data
** see KnownDataIssues re salinity issues**
The 2015-2016 US channel data have been submitted to NODC as Accession 0164166.
(We are unaware of any moorings deployed in the Russian Channel in 2015 or 2016.)

Mooring data from the US channel covering the time period summer 2016 to summer 2017
Link to ftp site for data and Readme file
** see KnownDataIssues re salinity issues**
These data have been submitted to NODC as Accession 0174627.
 
  Mooring data from the US channel covering the time period summer 2017 to summer 2018
Link to ftp site for data and Readme file
** see KnownDataIssues re salinity issues**
These data have been submitted to NODC as Accession 0189602.
 
Mooring data from the US channel covering the time period summer 2018 to summer 2019
Link to ftp site for data and Readme file
** see KnownDataIssues re salinity issues**
These data have been submitted to NODC as Accession 0210805.
(Note the NODC archive currently contains erroneous A3-ADCP data - use the data from the above ftpsite instead)
 
Mooring data from the US channel covering the time period summer 2019 to summer 2021
Link to ftp site for data and Readme file
** see KnownDataIssues re salinity issues**
These data have been submitted to NCEI (formerly NODC) as Accession 0253624
 
Mooring data from the US channel covering the time period summer 2021 to summer 2022
Link to ftp site for data and Readme file
** see KnownDataIssues re salinity issues**
In 2022, mooring A2-21 could not be recovered, despite an acoustic search in 2022 and a multibeam search in 2023. 
Thus only A3 and A4 data are available for this year.
These data have been submitted to NCEI (formerly NODC) as Accession 0289551
 
Mooring data from the US channel covering the time period summer 2022 to summer 2023
Link to ftp site for data and Readme file
** see KnownDataIssues re salinity issues**
  This includes the first year of biogeochemical sensors.
These data are have been submitted to NCEI (formerly NODC) as Accession 0297059
 
 
Mooring data from the US channel covering the time period summer 2023 to summer 2024
Link to ftp site for data and Readme file
** see KnownDataIssues re salinity issues**
  This includes the first year of biogeochemical sensors.
These data are have been submitted to NCEI (formerly NODC) as Accession 0302481
 

 
 
 
 *** Before use of the data, please read the "readme" files, the file headers and KnownDataIssues ***
MONTHLY CLIMATOLOGIES

1990-2004 Climatology

Woodgate, R.A.,  K. Aagaard, and T.J. Weingartner, Monthly temperature, salinity, and transport variability of the Bering Strait throughflow. Geophys. Res. Lett., Vol. 32, No. 4, L04601 10.1029/2004GL021880, 2005

Monthly Climatology calculated from near-bottom data Autumn 1990 - Summer 2004 - DATA




Climatological near-bottom temperature (T), salinity (S) and  principal component (V) of velocity (heading 329°) at A3, with estimated errors in brackets. Standard deviations are ~3 times these errors. Estimated transports (Vol) have  errors  ~  25%. Water column means are probably ~ 0.5  to  1  psu fresher   and   1   to  2°C  warmer  than  these values during summer/autumn (~ May - October). AM = annual mean.




Salinity (top) and temperature (bottom) from  ~  9  m above bottom at site A3 and A3'. Horizontal axis is time starting in  August  with letters indicating calendar months. Black  stars mark  the  14-year  monthly climatology of Table  1;  thin  black lines, the standard deviation; and the grey band, errors obtained from  variance  of the monthly means. Colored curves  are  30-day running  mean (with errors) from the various years (red= deployed in   1990   or  1991;  magenta=1992,  1993;  yellow=1994,   1995,  green=1997,  1998, cyan=1999, 2000; blue=2001, 2002, black=2003).  A3' (deployed summer 1992 to summer 1995) data is not included in the  climatology. Water column means are probably ~ 0.5 to 1  psu fresher   and   1   to  2°C  warmer  than  these  values  during  summer/autumn.

Principal component of velocity (true heading 329°) at  A3  and  A3',  illustrated as per Figure above. Estimated  transports labeled on right axis.


2003-2015 Climatology

Woodgate, R.A., Increases in the Pacific inflow to the Arctic from 1990 to 2015, and insights into seasonal trends and driving mechanisms from year-round Bering Strait mooring data, submitted to Progress in Oceanography, 2017 

Monthly Climatology including estimates for the Alaskan Coastal Current and stratification data 2003 - 2015 - DATA

Figure 14 from Woodgate, 2017, submitted - Figure only
 Figure 14 from Woodgate, 2017, submitted - Text only



ANNUAL MEANS


Annual Means of Bering Strait properties

Woodgate, R.A., 2018, Increases in the Pacific inflow to the Arctic from 1990 to 2015, and insights into seasonal trends and driving mechanisms from year-round Bering Strait mooring data, Progress in Oceanography

Annual Means for Bering Strait properties 1990 - most recent data available.
Please cite as Woodgate, 2018 (updated); Woodgate, 2020; Woodgate and Peralta-Ferriz, (submitted) (see here for full references)
Link for FTP site for:
Salinity    
Temperature    
Transport    
Heat flux (relative to -1.9degC, without Alaskan Coastal Current and stratification corrections)    
Freshwater flux (relative to 34.8psu, without Alaskan Coastal Current and stratification corrections)
Bering Strait Annual Means, from Figure 3, Woodgate 2017
 Bering Strait Annual Means, from Figure 3, Woodgate 2017
 Bering Strait Annual Means, from Figure 3, Woodgate 2017




MONTHLY MEANS


Monthly Means of Bering Strait properties

Woodgate, R.A., 2018, Increases in the Pacific inflow to the Arctic from 1990 to 2015, and insights into seasonal trends and driving mechanisms from year-round Bering Strait mooring data, Progress in Oceanography 

Monthly Means for Bering Strait properties 1990 to most recent data available
Please cite as Woodgate, 2018 (updated), Woodgate 2020; Woodgate and Peralta-Ferriz, (submitted) (see here for full citations)
Link to FTP site for: 
Salinity    
Temperature    
Transport    
Heat flux (relative to -1.9degC, without Alaskan Coastal Current and stratification corrections)    
Freshwater flux (relative to 34.8psu, without Alaskan Coastal Current and stratification corrections)
Bering Strait Monthly Mean Salinities, Figure 5a from Woodgate, 2017, submitted
 Bering Strait Monthly Mean Temperatures, Figure 5b from Woodgate, 2017, submitted
 Bering Strait Monthly Mean Transports, Figure 5c from Woodgate, 2017, submitted


Previous 1990-2004 Monthly Mean Publication

Woodgate, R.A.,  K. Aagaard, and T.J. Weingartner, Monthly temperature, salinity, and transport variability of the Bering Strait throughflow. Geophys. Res. Lett., Vol. 32, No. 4, L04601 10.1029/2004GL021880, 2005

Monthly means from near-bottom data  for Autumn 1990 - Summer 2004 - TSDATA and VELOCITYDATA

Fourteen year 30-day smoothed time-series of  salinity (top)  and  temperature (bottom) from ~ 9 m above  bottom  at  A1 (cyan),  A2  (blue), A3 (red) and A3' (green  -  summer  1992  to summer  1995). Line width indicates errors. Grey area  and  black lines  are  the climatology given above. Water column  means  are probably  ~  0.5 to 1 psu fresher and 1 to 2°C warmer than  these values during summer/autumn.

Fourteen year 30-day smoothed time-series of principal component of velocity (top) at A3 and A3' (true heading 329°) and (middle   and   bottom)  at  A2  (true  heading   0°).   Velocity climatologies from A3 and A2 (with errors and standard deviation) are  marked in top and middle figures. A3' (deployed summer  1992 to  summer  1995)  data is not included in the climatology.  Thin black  line on bottom figure marks 30-day smoothed reconstruction of  velocity  from a linear fit to the NCEP 6 hourly winds  (i.e. reconstructed  velocity  (cm/s) = 32 +  3.4  x  NCEP 10 m wind  component (m/s) at heading of 330°). (Coefficients obtained  from a  least  squares fit, see Wetal). Grey here indicates errors in  the coefficients. Colors are as per Figures 2 and 4. Conversions to transports (using cross-section areas of ~ 2.6 km2 at A2 and ~ 3.9 km2 at A3) are marked on the right axis. These transports are subject  to ~ 20% errors in addition to those indicated by error bars on the plots.



TIME-SERIES PLOTS
1990-1991   1991-1992   1992-1993   1993-1994   1994-1995  
1995-1996   1996-1997(no data this year)   1997-1998   1998-1999  1999-2000  
2000-2001   2001-2002
More recent time-series plots are available in the cruise reports for the year of recovery.
Note that end of timeseries sometimes show rotor fouling (reduction in speed) or salinity cell fouling (erroneously low salinities).  See individual header files for details

1990-1991 Temperature and Salinity
1990-1991 Current Meter Data
1991-1992 Temperature and Salinity
1991-1992 Current Meter Data
1992-1993 Temperature and Salinity
1992-1993 Current Meter Data
1993-1994 Temperature and Salinity
1993-1994 Current Meter Data
1994-1995 Temperature and Salinity
1994-1995 Current Meter Data
1995-1996 Temperature and Salinity
1995-1996 Current Meter Data
1996-1997 Temperature and Salinity

No data available this year

 1996-1997 Current Meter Data

No data available this year
1997-1998 Temperature and Salinity
1997-1998 Current Meter Data
1998-1999 Temperature and Salinity
1998-1999 Current Meter Data
1999-2000 Temperature and Salinity
1999-2000 Current Meter Data
2000-2001 Temperature and Salinity
2000-2001 Current Meter Data
2001-2002 Temperature and Salinity
2001-2002 Current Meter Data

For use of any of these figures, please contact Rebecca Woodgate (woodgate@apl.washington.edu)

© Polar Science Center, University of Washington, 2025

We gratefully acknowledge financial support for this work from  the Office of Naval Research (ONR), High Latitude Dynamics program, the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
 
Back to Bering Strait Homepage
Back to High Latitude Dynamics Homepage