Quasi-2-Day Signals Observed in the Warm Pool Region during TOGA/COARE IOP

During Tropical Ocean and Global Atmosphere (TOGA)/Coupled Ocean and Atmosphere Research Experiment (COARE) Intensive Observing Period (IOP), upward-looking acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCP) and current meters were moored at two equatorial sites (147°E and 154°E) and two off-equatorial sites (2°N and 2°S, 156°E) in the warm pool region of the western equatorial Pacific. Using current data obtained by these moorings, we have shown that there is a dominant signal with a period of about 2 days from the end of November to the middle of December in 1992, except at the equatorial site on 147°E (Ueki et al., 1998). The energy of this quasi-2-day signal for the meridional current is larger than that for the zonal one and the signal has a high coherence between two off-equatorial sites. In this paper, using band-passed time series of the meridional curerent, we investigated characters of the quasi-2-day signal and attempted to interpret this signal as an equatorially trapped wave. Complex empirical orthogonal function (CEOF) analysis reveals two different phase propagating features between the equatorial and off-equatorial site. One is an upward propagating signal, which is dominant near the surface at two off-equatorial sites, and the other is a downward propagating signal, which is dominant near 200 m at the equatorial site. If one interprets the quasi-2-day signal as an equatorially trapped wave, it is suggested that it cannot be explained as a single wave but can be described as the superimposition of several wave signals. The main part of these signals consists of two signals, one caused by a meteorological forcing and another by another factor in the ocean field.     

Characteristics of variations of water properties and density structure around the Kuroshio in the East China Sea

Quarterly data of CTD at the PN line in the East China Sea during 1988–94 were analyzed to examine the variations of water properties and density structure in relation to the Kuroshio. The Kuroshio flows over the continental slope at the PN line. Water properties in the surface layer less than 100 db change greatly and show a clear seasonal cycle, while those in the subsurface layer are much less variable. The small isobaric variations in the subsurface layer are almost due to the vertical movement of isopycnals, on which the water properties vary little. The subsurface variations of salinity, temperature and isopycnal depth are classified into four groups occurring in the four regions, divided vertically by the middle of the main pycnocline and horizontally by the offshore edge of the Kuroshio, named Groups 1 (upper Kuroshio), 2 (upper offshore region), 3 (lower Kuroshio), and 4 (lower offshore region). The difference in averaged isopycnal depth between Groups 1 and 2 (3 and 4) is highly correlated with the vertical shear of the Kuroshio velocity in the upper (lower) pycnocline. The isopycnal depth of Groups 1 and 3 has little annual cycle (with large intraseasonal variations in Group 3), while that of Groups 2 and 4 shows a clear seasonal variation with the minimum in fall. As a result, the Kuroshio velocity is smallest in fall almost every year, although the amplitude of seasonal variation and the season of maximum velocity are different from year to year. Interannual variations of isopycnal depth are characterized by a large amplitude of Group 2 and an opposite phase between Groups 3 and 4, so that the variations of difference in isopycnal depth between Groups 1 and 2 and Groups 3 and 4, i.e., the upper and lower shear of the Kuroshio velocity, are comparably significant.     

Education for sustainable development for Tokyo Bay: Developing a practice framework of university-based coastal ESD

This paper reviews the initial phase of a coastal education for sustainable development program for Edomae, the innermost reaches of Tokyo Bay. The program has been steered by a working group of Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology faculty members from different academic backgrounds. Although the process began with conventional educational ideas, the ESD practice framework evolved to include more interactive activities. The overall goal is to pursue discussions of a plan for the sustainable use of Tokyo Bay in the coastal communities through a university–community partnership by developing Edomae ESD leaders in the coastal community.     

Optimum design of the ocean acoustic tomography system for the Sea of Japan

An ocean acoustic tomography system covering the region of 800×1000 km with the spatial resolution of eddy-resolving scales has been designed on the basis of computer experiments using the hydrographic data collected in the Sea of Japan. The optimum number of acoustic sources required for 20 acoustic receivers was estimated as 13 by changing the source number. The spatial resolution for the optimum system was 41 km smaller than the dominant size of meso-scale eddies in the Sea of Japan. The effect of travel-time errors on tomographic maps is also quantified.     

Intermediate Circulation in the Northwestern North Pacific Derived from Subsurface Floats

In order to examine the formation, distribution and synoptic scale circulation structure of North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW), 21 subsurface floats were deployed in the sea east of Japan. A Eulerian image of the intermediate layer (density range: 26.6–27.0σ_θ) circulation in the northwestern North Pacific was obtained by the combined analysis of the movements of the subsurface floats in the period from May 1998 to November 2002 and historical hydrographic observations. The intermediate flow field derived from the floats showed stronger flow speeds in general than that of geostrophic flow field calculated from historical hydrographic observations. In the intermediate layer, 8 Sv (1 Sv ≡ 10⁶ m³s⁻¹) Oyashio and Kuroshio waters are found flowing into the sea east of Japan. Three strong eastward flows are seen in the region from 150°E to 170°E, the first two flows are considered as the Subarctic Current and the Kuroshio Extension or the North Pacific Current. Both volume transports are estimated as 5.5 Sv. The third one flows along the Subarctic Boundary with a volume transport of 5 Sv. Water mass analysis indicates that the intermediate flow of the Subarctic Current consists of 4 Sv Oyashio water and 1.5 Sv Kuroshio water. The intermediate North Pacific Current consists of 2 Sv Oyashio water and 3.5 Sv Kuroshio water. The intermediate flow along the Subarctic Boundary contains 2 Sv Oyashio water and 3 Sv Kuroshio water. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A steady model of typical non-large-meander paths of the Kuroshio Current

Conditions south of Cape Shiono-misaki for the nearshore and offshore non-large-meander (NLM) paths of the Kuroshio Current are studied using a two-layer reduced gravity model. A steady and non-diffusive state is assumed, and the conservation laws of Bernoulli's function and potential vorticity along the current axis are used. Spatial changes of velocity and depth of the current are imposed as boundary conditions south of Cape Shiono-misaki. These conditions are based on the facts that are ohserved south of the cape: abrupt acceleration of the Kuroshio and the spatial change of sea levels. The current paths east of the cape are computed.This model reproduces well the actual nearshore NLM paths. It also produces offshore NLM paths west of and over the Izu Ridge, but not east of the Izu Ridge. Diffusion of vorticity may be important for the eastern part of the offshore NLM path.An increase of velocity south of the cape is necessary for producing realistic NLM paths. The velocity increase accompanies a decrease of current depth owing to Bernoulli's conservation, and the depth decrease in turn diminishes the absolute vorticity owing to the potential vorticity conservation. The velocity increase, on the other hand, strengthens the negative velocity shear and diminishes the relative vorticity. If the decreases of the relative and absolute vorticities compensate each other, the path goes excessively southward owing to the negative curvature south of the cape. Dominance of the relative vorticity change over the absolute vorticity change prevents, the path from shifting southward and causes the realistic NLM paths.The NLM paths need different amplitudes of the changes south of the cape depending on the velocity and transport of the current, but in any case, the nearshore NLM path needs larger changes than the offshore NLM path. This property and the amplitude of the changes are consistent with observations.     

Spectral properties of sea level and time scales of Kuroshio path variations

Spectral properties of sea levels at Naze, Nishinoomote, Kushimoto, Uragami, Miyake-jima and HachijÔ-jima are examined for the non-large-meander (February 1964 – May 1975) and large-meander (October 1975 – December 1979) periods, and the periodicity of variation of the Kuroshio path is clarified.The large meander of the Kuroshio occurs with a primary period of about 20 years and secondary period of 7 to 8. 5 years. During the non-large-meander period, the Kuroshio alternately takes the nearshore and offshore non-large-meander paths with a primary period of 1. 6–1. 8 years. This variation is moreover composed of 110-day, around 195-day and annual periods. The 110-day variation of the Kuroshio path appears to have influence on the coastal sea levels between the Kii Peninsula and the Izu Ridge;i. e., the coastal sea levels rise and fall with one-month time lag after the Kuroshio has begun to approach and leave the Japanese coast. During the large-meander period, the 70 and 110-day variations are remarkable in sea levels south of Japan except Miyake-jima and HachijÔ-jima. The 70-day variation is highly coherent throughout the south coast of Japan; the coherent area of the 110-day variation seems to be smaller.The sea-level variations at Naze and Nishinoomote are not significantly coherent for any of the periods except for annual and semiannual cycles during both the non-large-meander and large-meander periods. That is, the sea-level variations are incoherent between the onshore and offshore sides of the Kuroshio, except for seasonal variation.     

Ocean variability North of New Guinea derived from TRITON buoy data

We investigated variability in the ocean surface-subsurface layer north of New Guinea using Triangle Trans-Ocean Buoy Network (TRITON) buoys at 2°N, 138°E and 0°N, 138°E during the period from October 1999 to July 2004. Both North and South Pacific waters were observed below the subsurface at these stations. The variability in the subsurface waters was particularly high at 2°N, 138°E. Clear interannual variability occurred near the surface; the water type differed before and after onset of the 2002–03 El Niño. Before summer 2001, water that appeared to be advected from the central equatorial Pacific occupied the near surface layer. After autumn 2001, waters advected by the New Guinea Coastal Current were observed near the surface. Intraseasonal and seasonal variations were also observed below the subsurface. With regard to seasonal variability, the salinity of the subsurface saline water, the South Pacific Tropical Water, was generally high during the boreal summer-autumn, when the New Guinea Coastal Undercurrent was strong. Intraseasonal fluctuations on a scale of 20 to 60 days were also seen and may have been associated with intrinsic oceanic variability, such as ocean eddies, near the stations. Ocean variability in the thermocline layer between 100 and 200 m greatly affects the surface dynamic height variability; water variability before 2001 and variability in the pycnocline depth after 2002 are important factors affecting the thermocline.