BEST 2008-2009 Bottom-Anchored Moorings

In a collaborative effort between University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) and University of Washington (UW), this dataset addresses the impact of physical variability on the processes and structure of the Bering shelf ecosystem, with special emphasis on how freshwater redistributed by the shelf circulation or introduced from sea ice modifies stratification and nutrient distributions. In particular, the effort seeks to understand how changes in sea ice affect advection and mixing; how variable fluxes of low-salinity, nutrient-deficient (but iron-rich) coastal waters affect production; how cross-shelf fluxes are established and altered; how these fluxes might respond to climate change; how the seasonal stratification cycle is controlled; and how the buoyant coastal flow evolves.

The dataset is using moored instruments and shipboard hydrography (including extensive 18O sampling) to address this problem set. The first set of UAF-UW BEST moorings, nine in all, was deployed in July 2008 from the US Coast Guard Cutter Healy. The locations of the moorings are shown in Figure 1 as red squares, circles, and stars; the red triangles denote NOAA moorings.