Alaska Current

Alaska Current

[ə′las·kə ′kər·ənt]

(oceanography)

A current that flows northwestward and westward along the coasts of Canada and Alaska to the Aleutian Islands.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Alaska Current

 

the northern branch of the North Pacific Current, in the northeastern part of the Pacific Ocean. The Alaska Current runs from south to north and then from east to west in the Gulf of Alaska. It enters the Bering Sea through the eastern straits of the Aleutian Islands. It has a speed of from 0.9 to 1.9 km/hr. Water temperature varies from 2°C to 7°C in February and from 10°C to 15°C in August. The Alaska Current is part of the Kuroshio system of warm currents.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.