The Subarctic and Northern Subtropical Fronts in the Eastern North Pacific Ocean in Spring

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Abstract
The subarctic and subtropical frontal zones of the eastern North Pacific Ocean were surveyed in June for five consecutive years starting in 1972. These surveys from the basis for a description of the complex frontal distributions and their year-to-year differences. The fronts appear as surface outcroppings of haloclines: the subarctic halocline where salinity increases with depth and the subtropical halocline where the opposite prevails. Between the fronts lies a transition zone where strong vertical gradients of salinity are generally absent. An examination of the northern boundary of subtropical waters in this new dataset reveals the presence of two major fronts in the subtropical frontal zone. In addition to the front commonly identified as the subtropical front (18°C and 34.8‰) is a northern subtropical front that forms the northern boundary of the subtropical halocline in the eastern North Pacific. It falls some 2° to 3° of latitude north of the subtropical front and is the same front observ... Abstract The subarctic and subtropical frontal zones of the eastern North Pacific Ocean were surveyed in June for five consecutive years starting in 1972. These surveys from the basis for a description of the complex frontal distributions and their year-to-year differences. The fronts appear as surface outcroppings of haloclines: the subarctic halocline where salinity increases with depth and the subtropical halocline where the opposite prevails. Between the fronts lies a transition zone where strong vertical gradients of salinity are generally absent. An examination of the northern boundary of subtropical waters in this new dataset reveals the presence of two major fronts in the subtropical frontal zone. In addition to the front commonly identified as the subtropical front (18°C and 34.8‰) is a northern subtropical front that forms the northern boundary of the subtropical halocline in the eastern North Pacific. It falls some 2° to 3° of latitude north of the subtropical front and is the same front observ...

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