Statistical study on the local equilibrium between wind and wind waves by using data from ocean data buoy stations

The local equilibrium between the wind and wind waves, which is defined by a range of the coefficient of the 3/2-power law between the non-dimensional significant wave height and period, is statistically investigated by using wind and wave data obtained at four ocean data buoy stations in the seas near Japan. The friction velocity is calculated from the wind speed measured at one height together with the significant wave period by using formulas of the wave dependent drag coefficient proposed by Tobaet al. (1990). The data for small waves or for weak winds indicate that the waves do not satisfy the criterion for the local equilibrium, because they may be affected by changing winds or remotely generated swells. In the seas near Japan, the data which satisfy the local equilibrium are about 6% through a year. Otherwise swells are dominant in most situations. Changing winds also cause deviations from the local equilibrium. The degree of satisfaction of the local equilibrium can be classified by ranges of the significant wave height. As the significant wave height exceeds 4 m, the local equilibrium is more frequently satisfied.     

On nonlinear sea waves and the induced mean flow

The nonlinear modulation of water wave groups is investigated and the interaction equations with induced flows are obtained. The analysis is performed up to the third order of the wave steepness a by treating it as a small parameter in the singular perturbation technique by means of the Krylov-Bogoliubov-Mitropolski method. The equation which governs the development of the wave envelope is found by a modification of the ordinary nonlinear Schroedinger equation for the case of uniform depth. The equations governing the behavior of the induced mean flow are examined by deriving the second order flow when the form of the modulated wave train is prescribed. The present theory can describe the mean flow caused by the radiation stress. Some applications containing the monochromatic wave instability are given to confirm the theoretical results.An outline of this paper was presented at The Ocean Surface Symposium (Sendai, 1984).     

Emergence Patterns of Small Subtidal Arthropods in Relation to Day/Night, Tidal, and Surface/Bottom Factors: Investigations in the Boreal Sea, Japan (Akkeshi, Hokkaido)

The emergence of small arthropods was studied in the boreal sea, Japan (Akkeshi, Hokkaido). In the shallow subtidal zone, two impeller pumps were set in the surface and bottom waters. The pumps ran continuously for 25 days (22 August-16 September, 1998), and invertebrates were sampled using a nylon net (300 to 500 m in mesh size). The small arthropods collected with the net belonged to 16 orders comprising about 60 taxa. In the dominant 23 taxa, a two-way ANOVA was applied to determine whether there was any significant difference in abundance between day and night and between surface and bottom. While emergence of 15 taxa (65%) was significantly different with regard to the day/night factor, that of the other 8 taxa (35%) was not. As to the difference between the two depths, the distribution of 15 taxa (65%) was significantly different. Furthermore, in 25 taxa for which over 100 specimens were collected in each of the two depths of water, emergence patterns were examined with regard to the synchrony with day/night and tidal cycles. There were various nocturnal patterns, and the strength of the synchrony with the day/night cycle was different for each species or group. Within the same taxa, nocturnal patterns were more clearly manifested in the surface water than in the bottom water. A tidal rhythm of emergence was only seen in zoeas of shrimp. Variations of the emergence patterns of benthic crustaceans are accounted for by a hypothesis that the frequency of swimming during day versus at night is different in each species. On the other hand, the emergence patterns of some zooplankton reflect by the daily rhythm of vertical migration or dispersal in the water column.     

Standing Crops of Planktonic Ciliates and Copepod Nauplii in the Subarctic North Pacific and the Bering Sea in Summer

Abundances and biomasses of planktonic ciliates and copepod nauplii, major components of the microzooplankton community, were investigated in the subarctic North Pacific and the Bering Sea in summer of 1997. Their regional variation was illustrated by demarcating the entire area into five regions. Ciliates always predominated both in abundance (>94%) and biomass (>78%) over nauplii. Regional means of ciliates in the water column were higher in the Alaskan Gyre (120 × 10⁶ cells/m²) and the Western Subarctic Gyre (110 × 10⁶ cells/m²) in terms of abundance, and rich in the Bering Sea Gyre (360 mgC/m²) and the Western Subarctic Gyre (340 mgC/m²) in terms of biomass. By contrast, standing crops of ciliates were poor in the Oyashio Region (67 × 10⁶ cells/m²; 170 mgC/m²) and the Transition Region (64 × 10⁶ cells/m²; 160 mgC/m²). The values of biomass reported here are generally in agreement with the values reported previously from the Bering Sea Gyre and the Alaskan Gyre but are considerably higher than the previous value found in the Western Subarctic Gyre. No significant correlations could be found between chlorophyll a crop and standing crops of ciliates and copepod nauplii over the entire subarctic North Pacific and the Bering Sea during this summer.     

Generalized Haurwitz waves

Waves which propagate along a vertical wall lying in an arbitrary direction on aβ-plane are derived as a generalization of Haurwitz waves (Haurwitz, 1940) whose direction of propagation is restricted to the east-west direction. The waves are classified into two types. One consists of neutral waves, which correspond to a generalization of Haurwitz waves. The other consists of waves with complex wavenumber and without energy flux. The phase of the waves also propagates in the direction normal to the coast in an envelope except for the case in which the coast lies in the east-west direction.     

Propagation of topographically trapped waves on aβ-plane

Topographically trapped (subinertia) waves that propagate along a coast lying in an arbitrary direction on aβ-plane are studied. It is found that the waves also propagate in the direction normal to the coast within an envelope due to theβ-effect. The dispersion relation is hardly affected by theβ-effect except in a long wavelength or long period range in which generalized Haurwitz waves (Takeda, 1984b) exist. In the long wavelength or long period range, two types of waves exist: topographically trapped type waves and generalized Haurwitz type waves.     

Examination of the merged sea surface temperature using wavelet analysis

In the previous study, merged sea surface temperature (SST) dataset called “New Generation SST” has been produced from several infrared and microwave satellite SSTs through an objective mapping. Here we examine the merged SST by comparison with moored buoy SST at 1 m depth, which is treated as true sea surface temperature. Comparison between wavelet spectra of merged and buoy SSTs shows that the former have larger amplitudes than those of the latter, which is partly explained as an aliasing effect due to TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) aboard Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) sampling on merged products. Coherency between wavelet-decomposed merged and buoy SSTs has high values in autumn and low ones in winter to spring. In winter, phase differences between them are positive, meaning that wavelet components of merged SST lag those of buoy SST. Reasons for delay and low coherency are: (1) seasonal components of merged SSTs are strongly affected by a lack of infrared SSTs due to clouds in winter, and (2) small-scale oceanic features, undetectable by coarse-resolution microwave SSTs, are blurred by the merging process. Improvements of merging methodology are discussed with regard to present study results.     

Wind-wave coupled downward-bursting boundary layer (DBBL) beneath the sea surface

By synthesizing data of the turbulent structure beneath wind waves in laboratory tanks, with some re-analyses, we propose the existence of a particular turbulent boundary layer which is directly coupled with wind waves, a downward-bursting boundary layer (DBBL) in water beneath wind waves. The data set indicates that the depth of this layer is from 3 to 7, or about 5 times the significant wave height of wind waves. The data observed in laboratory tanks agree with data of acoustic observations of bubble clouds under breaking wind waves in the sea made by Thorpe (1986, 1992). It is inferred that DBBL is formed in equilibrium with the local wind waves, as a common feature from initially generated wind waves, young laboratory wind waves to mature wind waves in the sea.     

OCTOPUS,an Octo parameter underwater sensor,for use in biological oceanography studies

A realtime monitoring system for observing physical, biological, and optical oceanographic parameters in shallow waters was developed. It consists of a CTD with oxygen sensor, anin situ fluorometer, anin situ transmissometer, and anin situ quanta meter together with an on-deck quanta meter. The system is also equipped with a water sampling device. Water sampling can be done during the upward cast on the basis of depth profiles of temperature, salinity, oxygen,in situ fluorescence, transmittance, and underwater irradiance taken during the downward cast.     

A numerical study of a tide with four harmonic constituents at the open boundary

The tidal current in Kagoshima Bay is simulated by the two-dimensional subdomain finite-element method. At the open boundary, the sea level is forced to be oscillatory with a linear combination of the four harmonic constituents (M2, S2, K1, O1) of the tide. A calculation having only M2 sea level at the open boundary is also performed and the harmonic constants of M2 are compared with those calculated by the four components.In the calculated velocity vector, a large difference between the two maxima or the two minima in one day appears when the vector is directed to the open sea. On the other hand, when it is directed into the bay, the two extreme velocities are almost equal. In tide-killer residual flow, the flow pattern is almost independent of the tidal age; however, the absolute value of the current velocity depends on the tidal age. The pattern is nearly the same as that calculated by giving only M2 sea level at the open boundary.In relation to the nonlinear interaction, the kinetic energy ratio KER is defined by the ratio of kinetic energy of the induced harmonic components to that of harmonic constituents given at the open boundary. KER is large where the tidal current is disturbed by obstacles,e.g. along the west coast at the mouth of the bay and in the southern sea of Mt. Sakurajima. The distribution of KER seems to be independent of the number of harmonic constituents (one or four) given at the open boundary. The difference of kinetic energy of the M2 tidal constituent between the two calculations.i.e. with the open boundary conditions of four components (M2, S2, K1, O1) and of a single component (M2), is found to be large where the current velocity is large.