Bidecadal variability in the Bering Sea and the relation with 18.6 year period nodal tidal cycle

Bidecadal variations are investigated in the Bering Sea, especially in the southeastern basin adjacent to the Aleutian passes, where vertical mixing may be strong because of the diurnal tide. Those variations found in this region are synchronized with the 18.6 year period nodal tidal cycle, and the temporal patterns are similar to ones around the northwestern subarctic Pacific near the Kuril Straits reported by a previous study. Salinity and density in the upper layer are high in the periods when the diurnal tide is strong. In the intermediate layer, layer thickness is large, and isopycnal potential temperature and apparent oxygen utilization are low in the same periods. It is shown that these variations are consistent with the patterns expected from the nodal modulation of vertical mixing, and a simple two-dimensional model, assuming a balance between anomalous vertical mixing and advection of anomaly by the mean current, succeeds to some extent in explaining the variations of the upper layer salinity and isopycnal temperature and apparent oxygen utilization in the intermediate layer.