North Pacific

The North Pacific is the northern part of the Pacific Ocean, extending from the equatorial region to the Arctic and bordered by Asia, North America, and the Aleutian Islands.

North Pacific Gyre: A large system of circulating currents in the North Pacific driven by prevailing winds and Earth’s rotation. This current system organizes surface circulation across much of the region.
Pacific Ocean: Earth’s largest ocean, stretching from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south. The North Pacific is the ocean’s northern basin.
North Pacific fisheries: Commercial and subsistence fisheries harvesting fish and invertebrates in the North Pacific and its marginal seas. The region supports major fisheries, including salmon, pollock, and tuna.
El Niño–Southern Oscillation: A recurring tropical Pacific climate pattern involving coupled changes in ocean temperatures and atmospheric circulation. Its tropical shifts influence North Pacific weather and circulation.
Kuroshio Current: A warm, fast western boundary current flowing northward past Taiwan and Japan. It carries tropical heat into the western North Pacific.
Bering Sea: A marginal sea of the North Pacific between Alaska and Russia, connected to the Arctic Ocean by the Bering Strait. It forms the northern transition between the Pacific and Arctic.
North Pacific right whale: A critically endangered baleen whale population found in the North Pacific. Its recovery depends on conservation across this ocean’s vast range.
Pacific Decadal Oscillation: A pattern of long-lived sea-surface temperature variation across the North Pacific. Its phases affect ecosystems, fisheries, and climate around the basin.
Oyashio Current: A cold subarctic current flowing southward along the Kuril Islands and northeastern Japan. Its meeting with the Kuroshio creates productive waters off Japan.
Sea of Okhotsk: A marginal sea of the western North Pacific, enclosed largely by Russia’s Far East and Japan’s Hokkaido. It is a major western basin adjoining the North Pacific.

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