The Bering Sea circulation is derived as a variational inverse of hydrographic profiles(temperature and salinity), atmospheric climatologies and historical observation of ocean currents. The important result of this study is estimate of the mean climatological sea surface height(SSH) that can be used as a reference for satellite altimetry sea level anomaly data in the Bering Sea region. Numerical experiments reveal that, when combined with satellite altimetry, the obtained reference SSH effectively constrains a realistic reconstruction of the Amukta Pass circulation
