The height distribution of the kinetic temperature and turbulent velocity of solar Hα spicules

The height distribution of the kinetic temperature of solar H spicules is determined using the widths of optically thin hydrogen and metallic lines obtained at the total solar eclipse of 1966: the temperature was found to be 8600 K at the height of 2200 km measured from the radial optical depth of unity at 5000 Å, and to decrease to a minimum of 5000 K ± 180 K at 3200 km, and to increase again to 8200 K at 6000 km.The height distribution of the non-thermal turbulent velocity is also determined and is shown to be consistent with the neutral helium line widths emitted at the kinetic temperature of 5000–8000 K.     

Numerical study of the behavior of heated water discharged into the ocean

The effect of the earth's rotation on the behavior of heated water discharged from gigantic nuclear power plants was investigated numerically. It is shown that the effect is significant even for the existing scale of discharge. Horizontal spreading of the heated water is suppressed in offshoreward and northward directions (when heated water is discharged in an eastward direction from a westfacing coast in the northern hemisphere), but accelerated in the southward direction, and the shape of the formed warm water region becomes asymmetric. In this paper, several calculations were done using exaggerated Coriolis parameters (f) in order to demonstrate the effect of the earth's rotation. An increase off enhances above effect, but the situation of the inner region of the produced warm water mass is much different from that in the outer region near its margin. The southward expansion of surface isothermal contours in the inner region increases with an increase inf, but those in the outer region do not. This results in an increase of the sharpness of the front which is generated near the southern edge of the warm water region. We have not found simple parameters which describe the temperature and velocity distributions in the warm water mass produced.     

Distributions of Water Masses and Currents in Tachibana Bay, West of Ari-ake Sound, Kyushu, Japan

We have investigated the water mass distribution and circulation in Tachibana Bay, which is located in the junction area between Ari-ake Sound and Amakusa-Nada in western Kyushu, Japan. This was done to clarify the mechanism by which ghost shrimp larvae, originating from a sandflat of Amakusa-Shimoshima Island, are transported. Temperature and salinity data repeatedly obtained over the area of Tachibana Bay show that relatively low salinity water lies over northern part of the bay, while high salinity water lies over southern part of the bay. The location of the low salinity water margin tends to depend on the amount of rainfall several days before the observation. A large amount of rainfall makes a clear boundary between low and high salinity waters. Current velocity data indicate an eastward mean flow just north of Tomioka, northern tip of Amakusa-Shimoshima Island, and a clockwise mean flow approaching the Tomioka Bay sandflat, which should be suitable for the on-shore transport of the ghost shrimp postlarvae. Current measurements with shipboard ADCP just west of Hayasaki Strait, at the entrance of Ari-ake Sound, show that a westward tidal residual current tends to incline to the north, with evidence of a density current in the northern part of the western Hayasaki Strait.     

Estimation of Oxygen Consumption Rate Using T-DO Diagram in the Benthic Layer of Ohmura Bay, Kyushu, Japan

We have observed the temporal variation of oxygen deficient water with short time scale (less than a few days) in the central area of Ohmura Bay, Kyushu, Japan, in summer, 1995 and 1996. The vertical profiles of temperature were similar to those of dissolved oxygen. We noticed a linear relation between temperature and dissolved oxygen in the bottom layer, and applied the T-DO relation to estimate the net oxygen consumption rate, rather than direct evaluation of the advection and diffusion. Oxygen consumption rate just above the bottom was estimated to be about 0.21 g O₂ m^–3day^–1 in July 1995, and about 0.28 g O₂ m^–3day^–1 in August 1996. The net oxygen consumption rate estimated for the bottom layer below the second thermocline was about 0.61 g O₂ m^–3day^–1 with variability from 0.55 to 0.66 g O₂ m^–3day^–1 during July 25 to 29, 1995. This is was about 0.64 g O₂ m^–3day^–1 with variability from 0.18 to 1.4 g O₂ m^–3day^–1 during August 22 to 30, 1996. The net oxygen consumption rates are about half of those measured with a closed system in the Seto Inland Sea.     

Development of a thin diatom layer observed in a stratified embayment in Japan

The temporal evolution of a thin phytoplankton layer was observed by field measurements using a research vessel and mooring instruments in the Yatsushiro Sea, a semi-enclosed narrow embayment in Japan, in early August 2013. The subsurface chlorophyll maximum developed into a thin layer within 2 days just below the pycnocline at around 10-m depth, where turbulent mixing (the dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy) was weak (low). The layer persisted for 1.5 to 2 days and declined after irradiance drastically decreased at the sea surface. At the peak period, the layer thickness, which is defined as the full-width at half-maximum of the peak in chlorophyll a concentration, ranged from 0.6 to 1.4 m, and the maximum concentration reached 42.3 mg m^?3. The horizontal extent of the layer was approximately 10 km along the longitudinal axis of the bay. The phytoplankton population characterized by the layer was dominated by a chain-forming centric diatom, Chaetoceros spp. The formation mechanisms of the thin diatom layer were investigated using the observed data and a vertical one-dimensional model that includes physical and biological processes. The results suggest that the development of the thin layer was caused by in situ growth and aggregation due to nutrient-dependent sinking of the species under weak turbulence. The study highlights that continuous multidisciplinary observations and understanding species-specific physiological responses to environmental variations are necessary to elucidate drastically fluctuating phytoplankton dynamics in a coastal water.     

Propagation of semi-diurnal internal tides observed off fukushima,along the east coast of Japan

Analysis of current velocity and temperature records obtained from moored buoy systems deployed off the east coast of Japan reveals the intermittent occurrence of semi-diurnal internal tides and their manner of propagation. The internal tidal waves clearly propagate toward the shore, which is confirmed by cross-correlation of the onshore current velocity and temperature between neighboring stations. The propagation speed of the internal tide increases with water depth except in the area furthest offshore. In this area, motions near the second mode seem to occur occasionally, while in the nearshore area the motions for the most part consist of the first mode. Through harmonic analysis, it is shown that theM ₁ internal motions were not vertically homogeneous. That is, the internal motions are greater at the lower level in the nearshore area while they are greater at the upper level in the offshore area. Pathways along which the energy of the internal tide should propagate are estimated in such a way that the characteristic curves pass through the area over which relatively large onshore/offshoreM ₂ velocity is distributed. The movement of the characteristic ray of a certain phase explains the observed phase velocity estimated from the cross-correlation diagrams. Internal motions around the characteristic ray were pronounced in a rather wide area. Thus, it is suggested that the generation region of the internal tide in the present study area might be relatively wide.     

Upwelling front and two-cell circulation in a two-dimensional model

The intensification of upwelling front and two-cell circulation is studied numerically in a two dimensional level model. Upwelling front is set initially with longshore geostrophic flow. The uniform wind stress forces the ocean which has an infinite north-south coast line. Two-cell circulation, downwelling just inshore-side of the front and upwelling offshore-side, is induced, and the front is intensified. It is found that the intensification is occurred in the inshore-side of the front, and the intensification is basically due to the deviation from the thermal-wind balance, as is shown bySuginohara (1977). It is found that the inshore-side cell intrudes under the pycnocline. It seems to reproduce the observed two-cell circulation.