Variation of the sea surface temperature distribution across the Kuroshio in the Tokara Strait

Distribution of the sea surface temperature (SST) across the Kuroshio has been measured in the Tokara Strait by the Kagoshima Prefectural Experimental Fishery Station, using a thermometer installed on boardEmerald-Amami, a ferry that operates regularly between Kagoshima and Naha. The data from 1 October 1978 to 30 September 1981 were analyzed in this paper.A sharp temperature front is usually formed at the northern edge of the current zone of the Kuroshio, and its position is very variable and moves north and south between Satamisaki and Nakanoshima. The northward migration of the front can easily be traced, but the southward migration is obscure in many cases. Some of the southward migrations seem to be understood as arising from the alternate appearance of two different fronts, namely a weakening of the northern front and a strengthening of the southern front, which are associated with the double structure of the Kuroshio front. The temperature contrast across the Kuroshio front is very weak in August through October, and the phase of its seasonal variation lags a few months behind that of temperature itself. Transitions between the states with and without temperature contrast occur suddenly, though the transition times differ year by year. Periodical fluctuations with a period of several tens of days are often observed in the migration region of the Kuroshio front. The fluctuations sometimes look very periodical within limited time periods, but the fluctuations are very changeable in nature from year to year.The results show that continuous observation of the SST distribution across the Tokara Strait yields a good tool for monitoring fluctuations of the Kuroshio path and the occurrence of the Ohsumi Branch Current, at least in the season when a large horizontal temperature contrast exists.     

Three-Dimensional Velocity Field and Cross-Frontal Water Exchange in the Kuroshio Extension

A spread of warm water from the first crest of the Kuroshio Extension is periodically enhanced by northward warm water intrusions from the main current. The water type in the spread area was previously found to be the same as that in the Kuroshio front at depth. In looking for the possible mechanism responsible for the northward warm water intrusions, a dynamic analysis in the Kuroshio front was carried out by using CTD, ADCP, AVHRR and ARGOS buoy data, obtained in 1996 by the R.V. Hakuho Maru. Downstream, cross-stream and vertical velocities in the Kuroshio Extension were found by using a "stream coordinate system". The velocity field in the Kuroshio front at the first crest showed a double structure with two surface velocity maxima. In the inner part of the front, relatively high cross-stream (northward) and vertical (upward) velocities were found. Thus, this study suggests that while water particles flow downstream along the first stationary meander of the Kuroshio Extension, they also experience lateral and vertical movements which allow the deeper water from an upstream location to rise to the surface layer, and in certain locations to deflect northward. By assuming isopycnal movement and conservation of potential vorticity, it was found that in those locations where anticyclonic curvature of the meander increases, warm water is more likely to deflect northward. High ageostrophic components observed in the first 300 m of the water column are probably related to the relatively high cross-stream and vertical velocities in the inner part of the front.     

The Current System in the Yellow and East China Seas

During the 1990s, our knowledge and understanding of the current system in the Yellow and East China Seas have grown significantly due primarily to new technologies for measuring surface currents and making high-resolution three-dimensional numerical model calculations. One of the most important new findings in this decade is direct evidence of the northward current west of Kyushu provided by satellite-tracked surface drifters. In the East China Sea shelf region, these recent studies indicate that in winter the Tsushima Warm Current has a single source, the Kuroshio Branch Current in the west of Kyushu, which transports a mixture of Kuroshio Water and Changjiang River Diluted Water northward. In summer the surface Tsushima Warm Current has multiple sources, i.e., the Taiwan Warm Current, the Kuroshio Branch Current to the north of Taiwan, and the Kuroshio Branch Current west of Kyushu. The summer surface circulation pattern in the East China Sea shelf region changes year-to-year corresponding to interannual variations in Changjiang River discharge. Questions concerning the Yellow Sea Warm Current, the Chinese Coastal Current in the Yellow Sea, the current field southwest of Kyushu, and the deep circulation in the Okinawa Trough remain to be addressed in the next decade. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

夏季台湾海峡南部海区的海流结构

本文根据台湾海峡南部海区夏季的海流调查资料,参考温、盐、密度等的历史资料和有关方面的研究成果,论述了表层、中层和下层的海流结构。结果表明,南海暖流继续沿着海区中部向东北延伸,但在粤东、闽南近岸的表层这支海流还受到沿岸低盐海水的影响;而黑潮南海分支北段的边缘部分可以影响到本海区的南部海域,这一部分还可能有一支流分出并沿着台湾岛西岸北上。     

基于卫星高度计和漂流浮标数据间数学校验关系的黑潮流轴和流路主成分估计

由于卫星高度计数据分辨率高、观测范围广的特点,我们使用该数据开展了黑潮流的研究。在之前的研究中,卫星绝对地转流都被用于对黑潮流域的表层流场的时空变化特征进行研究,并采用了一些探测方法提取了黑潮流轴和流路。然而,海面绝对地转流是由绝对动力地形估计得到,应该被当做实际流场的地转分量,在实际应用中并不能代表真实流场。在本研究中,建立了气候态绝对地转流与网格平均的漂流浮标流场间的数学校验关系,以此对卫星绝对地转流场进行修正,即便这两种数据的性质存在些许偏差。因此,基于主成分探测法,修正后的卫星绝对地转流被用于探测黑潮流轴和流路。对比结果表明,由修正后的卫星地转流场探测得到的黑潮流轴和流路均要好于地转流和表层流估计结果。修正后的地转流有助于开展更加准确的黑潮流轴和流路的逐日探测。     

Meander of the Kuroshio front and current variability in the East China Sea

To investigate the fluctuation of the Kuroshio front, moored current meters were deployed near the shelf break and on the continental slope in the East China Sea, northwest of Okinawa Island, during a period from 25 June to 22 July 1984. Two mooring arrays were deployed on the slope of about 800 m water depth (under the Kuroshio), about 30 km apart along the path of the Kuroshio. Another two arrays were set near the shelf break of about 300 m water depth. The fluctuation of current on the slope is found to have a predominant period of 11–14 days and a were length of 300–350 km, propagating toward the downstream direction of the Kuroshio with a phase velocity of about 30 cm sec^?1. When the Kuroshio front approaches the shelf break and the crest of the meander covers the mooring site, the current direction moves toward the downstream direction of the Kuroshio and the water temperature increases. On the other hand, when the trough of the meander covers the mooring site, the current direction changes off-shoreward across the Kuroshio or in the upstream direction of the Kuroshio, and the water temperature decreases. Three-dimensional distributions of water temperature and salinity around the mooring site were observed with a CTD twice at 5.5 days intervals, which indicate the meanders of the front is about 180° out of phase. This coincides with a period of 11–14 days obtained with the moored current meters. Wave lengths of the dominant meander of the front in the satellite thermal images were about 350 km and 100–200 km, which also coincides with results obtained with the moored current meters.     

Several characteristics of water exchange in the Luzon Strait

1IntroductionTheLuzonChannelissituatedonthewest-ernsideofthenorthernPacificandbetweenTaiwanandLuzonIslands.ItisthemainpassageofthePacificwaterenteringtheSCS.Therearenumerousdifferent-sizedislandsformingmanynarrowwaterpassagesinthischannel,sotheLuzonChannelisthegeneralnameofthesepas-sages(includingBabuyan,BalintangandBashiChannels,etc.).Customarily,theLuzonStraitiscalledtheBashiChannel.Itswidthis386kmandhasameandepthof1400m. Toagreatextent,thehydro-meteorologi-calconditionso…     

南海深水区季平均海流的诊断计算

根据南海温、盐度历史观测数据的季平均值和季平均风应力场,采用三维非线性海流诊断模式,对南海大陆架外深水海区四季平均流场进行了数值模拟计算。所得的南海四季环流总趋势以及一些中小尺度的涡旋现象,同已有的一些研究结果基本相符。此外,还较好地反映了南海海流的季节变化特征和流场在不同深度的分布特点。     

Structure of the Tsushima warm current in the northeastern Japan Sea

By using Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) measurements with the four round-trips method to remove diurnal/semidiurnal tidal currents, the detailed current structure and volume transport of the Tsushima Warm Current (TWC) along the northwestern Japanese coast in the northeastern Japan Sea were examined in the period September–October 2000. The volume transport of the First Branch of the TWC (FBTWC) east of the Noto Peninsula was estimated as approximately 1.0 Sv (10⁶ m³/s), and the FBTWC continued to flow along the Honshu Island to the south of the Oga Peninsula. To the north of the Oga Peninsula, the Second Branch of Tsushima Warm Current and the eastward current established by the subarctic front were recombined with the FBTWC and the total volume transport increased to 1.9 Sv. The water properties at each ADCP line strongly suggested that most of the upper portion of the TWC with high temperature and low salinity flowed out to the North Pacific as the Tsugaru Warm Current. In the north of the Tsugaru Strait, the volume transport of the northward current was observed to be as almost 1 Sv. However, the component of the TWC water was small (approximately 0.3 Sv).     

Spreading of warm water from the Kuroshio Extension into the Perturbed Area

The path of the Kuroshio Extension describes two stationary meanders with crests at approximately 144°E and 150°E. The short-term meridional fluctuations of the warm water spreading northward from the first crest at the surface and its vertical structure were analyzed by using 5-day-mean surface temperature maps published by JAFIC, montly 100-m-depth temperature maps edited by the JMA, and CTD data obtained by the R.Vs.Kofu-Maru, Hakuho-Maru andTansei-Maru cruises from 1990 to 1994. A Northern Boundary of the Spreak Kuroshio Water (NBSKW) and a Southern Boundary of the Spread Kuroshio Water (SBSKW) at the surface were defined as the northern and southern boundary of the pronounced meriodional temperature gradients, respectively. The vertical structure of the Spread Kuroshio Water was analyzed in terms of its T-S properties. The location of the NBSKW at the surface corresponds well with the northern boundary of the subsurface high salinity water that represents the Spread Kuroshio Water. The short-term meridional fluctuations of the northern and southern boundary of the Spread Kuroshio Water at the surface were studied through the spectral analysis of the maximum latitude of the two lines defined. We obtained the following results: (1) the meridional fluctuations of the NBSKW and SBSKW at the first creast have major periods between 16 and 38 days; (2) the 50 day running mean of the SBSKW at the first crest, for the purpòse of this study, can be generally used as indicative of the location of the Kuroshio axis; and (3) the northward extent of the Spread Kuroshio Water and the velocity of the meridional shift suggest seasonal variability that could be related with their vertical structure.     

On the origin of the Tsushima Warm Current Water

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Spreading and salinity change of North Pacific Tropical Water in the Philippine Sea

Newly formed North Pacific Tropical Water (NPTW) is carried to the Philippine Sea (PS) by the North Equatorial Current (NEC) as a subsurface salinity maximum. In this study its spreading and salinity change processes are explored using existing hydrographic data of the World Ocean Database 2009 and Argo floats. Spreading of NPTW is closely associated with the transports of the NEC, Mindanao Current (MC), and Kuroshio. Estimated for subsurface water with salinity S greater than 34.8?psu, the southward (northward) geostrophic transport of NPTW by the MC (Kuroshio) at 8°N (18°N) is about 4.4 (5.7)?Sv (1?Sv?=?10⁶?m³?s^?1), which is not sensitive to reference level choice. Fields of salinity maximum, geostrophic current, sea level variation, and potential vorticity suggest that the equatorward spreading of NPTW to the tropics is primarily afforded by the MC, whereas its poleward spreading is achieved by both the Kuroshio transport along the coast and open-ocean mesoscale eddy fluxes in the northern PS. The NPTW also undergoes a prominent freshening in the PS. Lying beneath fresh surface water, salinity decreases quicker in the upper part of the NPTW, which gradually lowers the salinity maximum of NPTW to denser isopycnals. Salinity decrease is especially fast in the MC, with along-path decreasing rate reaching O (10^?7?psu?s^?1). Both diapycnal and isopycnal mixing effects are shown to be elevated in the MC owing to enhanced salinity gradient near the Mindanao Eddy. These results suggest intensive dispersion of thermal anomalies along the subtropical-to-tropical thermocline water pathway near the western boundary.     

1993和1994年东海黑潮的变异

基于“长风丸”1993～1994年共8个航次的水文调查资料,采用改进逆方法计算了东海黑潮的流速、流量和热通量.计算结果表明:(1)PN断面黑潮流速在秋季时均呈双核结构;而在其他季节,有时为单核,有时为双核;黑潮主核心皆位于坡折处.黑潮以东及黑潮以下都存在南向逆流.(2)TK断面较复杂,可出现单、双或三核结构.在吐噶喇海峡中部、北部出现流核的机率较高.海峡南端及海峡深处都存在西向逆流,而且海峡南端的逆流在秋季较强.(3)在A断面,对马暖流核心位于陆坡上,但有时偏西或偏东.Vmax值的变动范围为26～46cm/s.黄海暖流位于其西侧,流速则相对减小.(4)东海黑潮流量在这两年中,在春季均出现最小值,在夏季出现最大或较大值.黑潮流量,以PN断面为例,每年四季平均流量值1994年与1993年几乎相同,但略小于1992年的平均流量值.8个航次中通过PN、TK断面的平均净流量分别为27.1×106和25.0×106m3/s.(5)8个航次中,通过PN、TK断面的热通量的平均值分别为1.99×1015和1.78×1015W.(6)在计算海域秋季和冬季均是由海洋向大气放热;夏季则均从大气吸热;春季则不确定.海面上热交换率在冬季最大,而春、夏季较小.     

Hydrological analysis of Kuroshio water intrusion into the South China Sea

IN~crIONInvestigation of physical oceanography in the sleuth China Sea can be traced back tO the early17th century. America, England, Japan and Russia all carried out investigations in the sea. Butthe survey areas were limited and the data were scrappy. After entering this century big progresshas been achieved in the investigation of the sea both in the scale of survey and the depth ofstudy. So far the papers such as "Wind and drift currents in the mouth China Sea" (Dale, 1956)and "Phys…     

A two-layers model for the summer circulation of the East China Sea

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Estimation of heat flux through the eastern Bering Strait

We estimated the northward heat flux through the eastern channel of the Bering Strait during the ice-free seasons between 1999 and 2008. This is likely about half of the total heat flux through the strait. The net volume transport and heat flux through the eastern channel of the strait were estimated from multiple linear regression models with in-situ/satellite remotely sensed datasets and NCEP reanalysis 10 m wind. The net volume transport was well explained by the west-east slope of sea level anomaly and NNW wind component at the strait. On the heat flux, the contributions of both barotropic and baroclinic components were taken into account. Estimated volume transport and vertical profile of temperature were used to calculate northward heat flux through the eastern channel of the strait. The magnitude of the estimated heat flux is comparable to estimates from in-situ measurements. Averaged heat flux in the eastern Bering Strait between 2004 and 2007 was about 1.9 times larger than that between 2000 and 2003. Maximum heat flux occurred in 2004, and same magnitude of heat flux was estimated from 2005 to 2007. This resulted not only from the increase in northward volume transport but also anomalous warm water intrusion from the Bering Sea. Our results suggest a candidate among the important parameters controlling heat budget, which contributes to the Arctic sea ice reduction, whereas more studies are required to confirm that this mechanism is actually responsible for the interannual and longer timescale variability.     

吐噶喇海峡黑潮流速结构和流量的研究

利用1977－1991年日本“KuroshioExploitationandUtilizationResearch”（KER）资料和日本气象厅海洋观测资料计算吐噶喇海峡的黑潮流速和流量。结果表明，海峡处黑潮主轴的平均核心流速为92．0cm／s，平均流量为周．1×106m3/s；揭示了吐噶喇海峡黑潮流速的多核结构和多股流动的突出特征。探讨了海峡中流量分布状况和季节变化。     

基于个体模型的东海鲐鱼渔场形成机制研究

鲐鱼Scomber japonicus资源丰富,在我国近海渔业中占有重要地位。其渔场的形成受海洋环境的制约,本文确定鲐鱼运动和物理环境之间的响应关系,建立起了基于个体的东海鲐鱼生长洄游模型。结果显示,鲐鱼集群分布与捕捞生产渔场基本吻合,鲐鱼聚集主要受台湾暖流、大陆沿岸水、黑潮影响,往往集群在一定温度范围内并在冷暖交汇区温盐梯度大偏暖水一侧。在台湾暖流和沿岸水交汇的锋面附近、台湾暖流暖水舌前端、黑潮与中国大陆沿岸水形成的潮境区域均有大量的鲐鱼聚集,并形成渔场。产卵位置的变动使偏西产卵位置的鲐鱼由于受台湾暖流影响较大,鲐鱼会呈长带状大量聚集在台湾暖流和沿岸水的锋面附近,并使在台湾暖流暖水舌前端的聚集数量增多,而偏东的产卵的鲐鱼受黑潮影响较大,聚集分布范围较大,会使黑潮形成的锋面附近聚集数量增多,而使台湾暖水舌的前端的聚集量减少。正常产卵位置在生存率方面是最佳产卵位置。研究表明鲐鱼所处空间位置不同,会影响其集群的位置,用数值模型验证了物理环境会对鲐鱼的洄游和渔场的形成产生影响。     

基于20年卫星高度计数据的黑潮变异特征分析

本文基于改进的特征线方法,利用1992~2012年间的高度计绝对动力地形数据提取了整个黑潮流区逐月的黑潮主轴和边界位置,并对黑潮沿轴速度、主流宽度、表层水体输运以及路径标准差等黑潮特征量进行了分析研究。结果表明黑潮整体的沿轴速度在夏秋季较大,最大值可达0.95m/s,而在冬季的速度较小;黑潮主流宽度在10、11月份达到最大值;黑潮表层水体输运在夏季最大,春秋两季次之,冬季最小。沿黑潮流路分区域对黑潮特征进行分析,结果表明,越往黑潮下游,黑潮的沿轴速度、主流宽度和表层水体输运越大,同时沿轴速度和表层水体输运量最大值出现的时间也越晚,黑潮主轴位置相对于其多年平均的偏离程度越大,且随时间波动也越强烈。     

Seasonal Variations in the Sea off Sanriku Coast, Japan

The temperature and salinity data obtained by the Iwate Fisheries Technology Center for the 25-year period from 1971 to 1995 were analyzed to clarify the seasonal variations in the sea off Sanriku, Japan. The variations of three typical waters found in this region, the Tsugaru Current water, the Oyashio water, and the Kuroshio water are discussed in terms, of a T-S scatter diagram referring to the water mass classification proposed by Hanawa and Mitsudera (1986). The mean temperature and salinity fields averaged for each month show clear seasonal variation. Distributions of the Tsugaru Current water and the Oyashio water can barely be distinguished in the fields deeper than 200 m since the Tsugaru Current has a shallow structure; however, the fields at 100 m depth indicate remarkable seasonal variation in the area of the Tsugaru Current. At 100 m depth, the temperature and salinity fronts between the Tsugaru Current water and the Oyashio water gradually disappear in January through April, appear again in May, then become clearest in September. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.