Effects of sea ice formation and diapycnal mixing on the Okhotsk Sea intermediate water clarified with oxygen isotopes

Processes relating to the formation of dense shelf water and intermediate water in the Okhotsk Sea were studied by examining oxygen isotope ratios (delta(18)O), salinity, and temperature. The salinity and delta(18)O of the cold dense shelf water on the northern continental shelf showed peculiar relationship. The relationship indicates that 3% of the mixed-layer water, having salinity of 32.6, froze and the remaining 97% became dense shelf water of salinities of more than 33.2 (sigma(0) > 26.7) during the sea ice formation. The salinity-delta(18)O relationship also shows that 20% of the Okhotsk Sea Intermediate Water at the sigma(0) = 26.8 level was derived from the dense shelf water. The remaining 80% came from the Western Subarctic Pacific water modified by diapycnal mixing of water affected by the surface cooling and freshening within the Okhotsk Sea. The mixing with dense shelf water contributes to only 26% of the temperature difference or 8 % of the salinity difference between the original Pacific water and the Okhotsk Sea Intermediate Water at sigma(0) = 26.8. This result suggests that the cold and less saline properties of the Okhotsk Sea Intermediate Water are produced mainly by diapycnal mixing, rather than by mixing of the Pacific water with the dense shelf water. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.