Eduction of hydrodynamical processes from cross-channel electric-potential differences in the Kuroshio area around the Izu Ridge

The paper comprises analysis of telluric electric-potential differences measured across channels west and south of Oshima in the Kuroshio area to the south of Tokyo Bay during one to two years around 1960. The records are shown to involve ionospheric and magnetospheric induction noises, which are at the same or higher energy level compared to signals induced by Oceanic-dynamic processes in a frequency range of the daily and higher cycles. Channel transports estimated from potential records through eliminating the noises are verified, in reference to hydrographic observations as well as cross-channel difference in sea-level observations, to represent well the actual transport not only in the baroclinic geostrophic mode but also in the barotropic geostrophic mode and the mode deviated from geostrophy. The channel transports, which are obtained continuously in time, are proved to reveal especially well the detailed time-varying processes, on illustrating the case of an inverse-current burst happened in the Oshima-West Channel. At the end, results from spectral analyses of potential records in relation to reference quantities are presented.