The physical and chemical parameters of the OS waters are determined
by a supply of the Dense Shelf Water (formed in the coastal
polynyas as result of cooling and brine injection under ice), the inflow
of transformed subtropical waters from the Japan Sea, Amur River runoff,
and the water exchange between the OS and the subarctic Pacific
(e.g., Andreev and Pavlova, 2010; Nishioka et al., 2014). By using an
ice-ocean coupled model, Nakanowatari et al. (2015) have demonstrated
that the warming of the intermediate water in the western OS during
1980–2008 was due to a decrease in cold and dense shelf water flux,
which in turn was caused by a decrease in sea ice and surface water
freshening. Rogachev (2000) have related a cooling and freshening of
the upper layer in the OS in 1990–1996 and a warming and an increase
of salinity in the intermediate layer of the EKC.