Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
5764628 | Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers | 2017 | 80 Pages |
Abstract
To understand long-term mean and seasonal variations of the Oyashio transport off the southeastern coast of Hokkaido, time series of estimated transports were generated by combining satellite altimetry and CTD data from the period 1993-2014 along a monitoring transect referred to as the “A-line”. Linear regressions between CTD-derived geostrophic transport and altimetry-derived sea level anomaly differences were calculated by minimizing a cost function newly proposed in this study. The horizontal structure of 21-year mean transport was characterized by a southwestward flow on the continental slope (SW-1) associated with the First Oyashio Intrusion, a northeastward flow (NE-2) likely trapped against the Kuril-Kamchatka trench, a southwestward flow (SW-3) related to the Second Oyashio Intrusion, and a very stable northeastward flow (NE-4) corresponding to a combination of the Oyashio Return Flow and quasi-stationary Jet. Analysis of long-term mean monthly transports revealed four alternating flows that were present throughout all seasons of the year. The boundaries between adjacent pairs of the four flows on the A-line did not change on a seasonal timescale as much as the southernmost latitude of the First Oyashio Intrusion. At a 0-month (1-month) time lag, the sum of the SW-1, NE-2, and SW-3 (SW-1 and NE-2) transports, which corresponds to net Oyashio transport (partial net Oyashio transport related to the southernmost latitude of the First Oyashio Intrusion), was correlated with Sverdrup transport more robustly than was each of the four alternating flows. This result suggests that as the Oyashio crossed the A-line, it responded barotropically to basin-scale wind stress by adjusting transports composed of both southwestward and northeastward flows.
Keywords
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Physical Sciences and Engineering
Earth and Planetary Sciences
Geology
Authors
Hiroshi Kuroda, Taku Wagawa, Shigeho Kakehi, Yugo Shimizu, Akira Kusaka, Takeshi Okunishi, Daisuke Hasegawa, Shin-ichi Ito,