Sunspot activity and oceanic conditions in the northern north Pacific Ocean

Abstract

During periods of sunspot maxima (approximately every 11 years) the mean winter position of the center of the Aleutian Low pressure system shifts from the Gulf of Alaska to the western Aleutian Islands, and mean, cyclonic, wind-stress transport in the Gulf of Alaska is reduced by roughly 20%. Coastal sea level data in the gulf do not reflect an 11-year cycle but spectral energy densities indicate an approximate 6-year periodicity also present in transpacific annual mean sea surface temperatures that, in the last one or two decades, parallels large year classes of Pacific herring in southeastern Alaska, large escapements of sockeye salmon fry in the Bristol Bay area, and maxima in the January catch of Dungeness crab in Alaska.