M. Wang, J. E. Overland, D. B. Percival and H. O. Mofjeld (2006), `Change in the Arctic Influence on Bering Sea Climate during the Twentieth Century', International Journal of Climatology, 26, no. 4, pp. 531-9.
Surface air temperatures (SAT) from three Alaskan weather stations in a north-south section (Barrow, Nome, and St. Paul) show that on a decadal scale, the correlation relationship among the stations changed during the past century. Before 1960s Barrow and Nome were dominated by arctic air masses and St. Paul was dominated by North Pacific maritime air masses. After 1960s the SAT correlation in winter between Barrow and St. Paul increased from 0.2 to 0.7 and between Nome and St. Paul from 0.4 to 0.8, implying greater north-south penetration of both air masses. The correlation change in the winter Barrow/St. Paul pair is significant at a 95% confidence level. The Nome/St. Paul pair in spring also shows some of this characteristic change in correlation. Relatively-stable, high correlations are found among the stations in the fall; correlations are low in the summer. Our study shows a change in the climatological structure of the Bering Sea in the late 20th century, at present of unknown origin, and occurring earlier than the well-known 1976/1977 shift. These climatological results further support the concept that the southeast Bering Sea ecosystem may have been dominated by arctic species for most of the century, with a gradual replacement by sub-arctic species in the last 30 years.
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