  Using Lagrangian methods we analyze a 20-year-long estimate of water flux
through the Kamchatka Strait in the northern North Pacific based on AVISO
velocity field. It sheds new light on the flux pattern and its variability on
annual and monthly time scales. Strong seasonality in surface outflow through
the strait could be explained by temporal changes in the wind stress over the
northern and western Bering Sea slopes. Interannual changes in a surface
outflow through the Kamchatka Strait correlate significantly with the Near
Strait inflow and Bering Strait outflow. Enhanced westward surface flow of the
Alaskan Stream across the $174^\circ$ E section in the northern North Pacific
is accompanied by an increased inflow into the Bering Sea through the Near
Strait. In summer, the surface flow pattern in the Kamchatka Strait is
determined by passage of anticyclonic and cyclonic mesoscale eddies. The wind
stress over the Bering basin in winter - spring is responsible for eddy
generation in the region.
