Water circulation in the kuril basin of the Okhotsk Sea and its relation to eddy formation

This paper describes the water circulation in the Kuril Basin and its role in the formation and seasonal variation in intensity of the large anticyclonic eddies which occur in the basin. Oceanographic data for the period June 1977 through June 1979 suggest that these eddies develop in summer and decay in winter. In summer, the eddy development is associated with a deepening of the isopycnals caused by the surface flow of the Soya Warm Current over the basin, and the deep advection of cold, less saline, oxygen-rich water from Terpenia Bay and the eastern continental shelf of Sakhalin Island. In winter, the eddy decay is caused by surface cooling and convective mixing downward of the warm, saline surface water, which causes the isopycnals to rise and leads to an attenuation of the eddies. This combination of the summer influx of water into the region, and the fall and winter cooling of the eddies leads to the annual variation in eddy intensity.     

Back-arc rifting in the Okinawa Trough

Geological and geophysical data reveal that the Okinawa Trough shows incipient continental rifting, and crustal separation started from about 2 Ma. The early extensional movements in the trough are probably of Miocene age. In addition to the Miocene phase, two main periods of extension are recognized: a Pleistocene phase between 1.9 and 0.5 Ma and the present day phase. During the stage short central rifts (Central Grabens) were formed. The opening however, may have occurred only in the southern part of the trough basin having an average half spreading rate of 2 cm yr^?1 since Early Pleistocene time, producing its present width of several tens of kilometres. These activities were well represented by igneous intrusions, sedimentary facies and sedimentary structures in and around the Okinawa Trough. The width of the zone affected by back-arc extension (defined as Greater Okinawa Trough) is larger than the present Okinawa Trough, whose width is 200–250 km. The present form of the Greater Okinawa Trough started to form at the same time as that of the Okinawa Trough.     

Tidal current fluctuations in the Soya Current

Long-term current measurements were carried out near the Soya Strait in the Okhotsk Sea during a period from February 1980 to September 1982. The data were divided into five segments, each being 150 days long, and the tidal ellipse parameters of major axis, minor axis, orientation, and phase for the four major constituents (M2, S2, K1 and O1 tides) were calculated at each segment. The major axis of the mean tidal ellipse averaged over five segments was 29.9 cm sec^–1 for O1 tide, 28.3 cm sec^–1 for K1 tide, 10.4 cm sec^–1 for M2 tide, and 3.7 cm sec^–1 for S2 tide. The phase and orientation of the tidal ellipse were much stable. But, the root mean square deviations of the major axis reached 20% of the mean values for all four constituents. The tidal currents estimated from the sea level records at Wakkanai and Esashi along the Hokkaido coast in the Okhotsk Sea show that their amplitudes and phases are in good agreement with the observed ones for all four constituents.     

Velocity Field of the Oyashio Region Observed with Satellite-Tracked Surface Drifters during 1999–2000

Based on the surface drifters that moved out from the Sea of Okhotsk to the Pacific, the surface velocity fields of mean, eddy, and tidal components in the Oyashio region are examined for the period September 1999 to August 2000. Along the southern Kuril Island Chain, the Oyashio Current, having a width of ∼100 km, exists with velocities of 0.2–0.4 m s⁻¹. From 40°N to 43°N, the Subarctic Current flows east- or northeastward with velocities of 0.1–0.3 m s⁻¹, accompanied by a meandering Oyashio or Subarctic front. Between the Oyashio and Subarctic current regions, an eddy-dominant region exists with both cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies. The existence of an eastward flow just south of Bussol' Strait is suggested. The 2000 anticyclonic warmcore ring located south of Hokkaido was found to have a nearly symmetric velocity structure with a maximum velocity of ∼0.7 m s⁻¹ at 70 km from the eddy center. Diurnal tidal currents with a clockwise tidal ellipse are amplified over the shelf and slope off Urup and Iturup Islands, suggesting the presence of diurnal shelf waves. From Lagrangian statistics, the single-particle diffusivity is estimated to be ∼10 × 10⁷ cm²s⁻¹.     

The 20°C isotherm depth and sea level in the western equatorial pacific

A high correlation exists between the 20°C isotherm depth at the north equatorial countercurrent trough of dynamic topography and the monthly mean sea level at Truk Island. The meridional topography of the main thermocline depth can be used to monitor the strength of the equatorial currents, in the same manner as dynamic heights and sea levels at oceanic islands are used.     

Unusual Behavior of the Kuroshio Current System from Winter 1996 to Summer 1997 Revealed by ADEOS-OCTS and Other Data (Continued): A Study from Broad External Conditions with Bottom Topography

In the previous paper (Toba and Murakami, 1998) we reported on an unusual path of the Kuroshio Current System, which occurred in April 1997 (April 1997 event), using the Ocean Color and Temperature Scanner (OCTS) data of the Advanced Earth Observing Satellite (ADEOS). The April 1997 event was characterized by the flow of the Kuroshio along the western slope (northward) and the eastern slope (southward) of the Izu-Ogasawara Ridge, a very southerly turning point at about 32°N, followed by a straight northward path up to 37°N of the Kuroshio Extension along the eastern flank of the Izu-Ogasawara and the Japan Trenches. Overlaying of depth contours on ADEOS-OCTS chlorophyll-a images at the April 1997 event demonstrates the bottom topography effects on the current paths. A new finding based on TOPEX/Poseidon altimeter data is that the sea-surface gradient across the Kuroshio/Kuroshio Extension diminished greatly in the sea area southeast of the central Japan, as a very temporary phenomenon prior to this event. This temporary diminishing of the upper-ocean current velocity might have caused a stronger bottom effect along the Izu-Ogasawara Ridge, and over the Izu-Ogasawara Trench disclosed a weak background, barotropic trench-flank current pattern, which existed otherwise independently of the Kuroshio Extension. The very southerly path of the Kuroshio Extension from winter 1996 to autumn 1998 corresponded, with a time lag of about 1.5 years, to the previous La Niña tendency with weaker North Equatorial Current. The April 1997 event occurred in accordance with its extreme condition.     

Early tholeiitic and calc-alkaline arc magmatism of middle to Late Eocene Age in the southern Ogasawara (Bonin) forearc

Analysis of middle and upper Eocene rocks from the IBM forearc, including the Ogasawara and Mariana Islands, help illuminate early arc volcanism of the proto-IBM arc. Dredged volcanic rocks from the forearc are two-pyroxene basalt to andesite, and may be divided into two groups, tholeiite and calc-alkaline, on the basis of mineralogy, petrography, and bulk chemistry. Tholeiites are characterized by high HFSE contents, high crystallization temperatures, and low water contents. In contrast, the calc-alkaline rocks are characterized by low HFSE contents, low crystallization temperatures, and higher water contents. These characteristics indicate that magma genesis for the two series differed. The tholeiites resulted from high degrees of partial melting of slightly depleted mantle under anhydrous conditions, whereas the calc-alkaline rocks were generated by low degrees of melting of depleted mantle under hydrous conditions. We believe that differences in mantle depletion arose from compositional layering and fluid zonations caused by MORB volcanism and slab dehydration, respectively. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

A THEORETICAL STUDY ON THE MULTIPLE EQUILIBRIA OF TROPICAL ATMOSPHERE AND THEIR RELATION TO THE ONSET OF THE SUMMER MONSOON

Multiple equilibria and their stability in tropical atmosphere are investigated through β-plane barotropic models with consideration of heating and dissipation. We have derived the solutions of the model equations corresponding to the multiple equilibria or the steady flows first, and then establish the criteria for the stability of steady flow by use of the Liapunov direct Method. When these criteria are applied to the solutions of equilibria obtained, stable flows, which are closely related to the different patterns of quasi-stationary circulation in the tropical region, are found. The configurations of these stable flows and the shift between two of them as season changes provide quite reasonable explanations to many fundamental problems of tropical circulation features such as the catastrophe mechanism of the onset and the break-active cycle of the Asian summer monsoon. It follows that the onset or the abrupt transition of the Asian summer monsoon could be attributed to the multiple equilibrium property of the tropical circulation resulted from the advective nonlinearity, which provide another explanation among others.     

Paleomagnetism of a pyroclastic flow deposit and its correlative widespread tephra in central Japan: Possible tectonic rotation since the late Pleistocene

Abstract The late Pleistocene Kamitakara Pyroclastic Flow Deposit (KPFD) and its correlative Kasamori (Ks22) Tephra in central Japan are found to preserve stable thermoremanent magnetization (TRM) and detrital remanent magnetization (DRM), respectively. Untilted site‐mean declinations of the KPFD are characterized by a fairly large scatter with easterly deflection, while those of the Ks22 show significantly smaller deflections. Because northerly paleomagnetic directions consistently characterize shallow marine sediments intercalating the Ks22 layer, the directional discordance is not attributed to different acquisition timing between TRM and DRM, but is probably due to a recent tectonic rotation in central Japan. Large scatter in TRM declinations of the KPFD implies that a number of right‐lateral active faults around the depositional area of the pyroclastic flow raised differential rotation of crustal blocks in central Japan, even during the late Pleistocene.