Direct measurements of mid-depth circulation in the Shikoku basin by tracking SOFAR floats |
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| Authors: | Keisuke Taira Shoji Kitagawa Katsuto Uehara Hiroshi Ichikawa Hiroyuki Hachiya Toshihiko Teramoto |
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| Affiliation: | (1) Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo, Minamidai, Nakanoku, 164 Tokyo, Japan;(2) Faculty of Fisheries, Kagoshima University, Shimoarata, 890 Kagoshima, Japan;(3) Research Institute for Precision Mechanics, Tokyo Institute of Technology, # 4259 Nagatsuda, Midoriku, 277 Yokohama, Japan;(4) Faculty of Science, Kanagawa University, # 2946 Tsuchiya, 259-12 Hiratsuka, Japan |
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| Abstract: | Mid-depth circulation of the Shikoku Basin was measured by tracking four SOFAR floats drifting at the 1,500 m layer. Two floats were released on 17 April 1988 at 30°N, 135°59 E and tracked for 433 days. Another two were released on 3 November 1988 at 29°52N and 133°25E, and tracked for 234 days. Two floats flowed clockwise around the Shikoku Warm Water Mass with a diameter of 400 km centered at 31°N and 136°E and a mean drift speed of 4.5 cm sec–1. One of the floats showed about ten counterclockwise rotations with a period of about 8 days and a maximum speed of 80 cm sec–1 in the sea area west to the Izu Ridge. In the east to Kyushu, a southward flow was observed under the northward flowing Kuroshio. The southward flow of 4 cm sec–1 drift speed was considered to be a part of the counterclockwise circulation at deep layers along the perimeter of the Shikoku Basin. One float remained for 234 days in a limited area of 100 km by 150 km in the western part of the basin. |
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