Variability of Current Structure Due to Meso-Scale Eddies on the Bottom Slope Southeast of Okinawa Island (original) (raw)
Related papers
Variability of Northeastward Current Southeast of Northern Ryukyu Islands
Journal of Oceanography, 2004
To better understand the mechanism underlying the variation of the Kuroshio south of central Japan, we have examined the variability of current structure in its upstream region, southeast of Amami-Ohshima Island in the northern Ryukyu Islands. By combined use of ship-mounted Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) and the TOPEX/POSEIDON satellite altimeter data on Path 214, the sea surface absolute geostrophic currents were estimated every ten days from January 1998 to July 2002. The 4.5-year mean surface current was found to flow northeastward north of 26.8°N with a maximum speed of 14 cm s−1 over the shelf slope at 3000 m depth. The moored current-meter observations at three or four mooring stations from Dec. 1998 to Oct. 2002 suggested the existence of a northeastward undercurrent with a maximum core velocity of 23 cm s−1 at 600 m depth over the shelf slope at 1600 m depth. The mean volume transport in the top 1500 m between 27.9°N and 26.7°N is estimated to be 16 × 106 m3s−1 northeastward, including the subsurface core current related component of 4 × 106 m3s−1.
Study of the Kuroshio/Ryukyu Current system based on satellite-altimeter and in situ measurements
Journal of Oceanography, 2008
Data from satellite altimeters and from a 13-month deployment of in situ instruments are used to determine an empirical relationship between sea-level anomaly difference (SLA) across the Kuroshio in the East China Sea (ECS-Kuroshio) and net transport near 28°N. Applying this relationship to the altimeter data, we obtain a 12-year time series of ECS-Kuroshio transport crossing the C-line (KT). The resulting mean transport is 18.7 ± 0.2 Sv with 1.8 Sv standard deviation. This KT is compared with a similarly-determined time series of net Ryukyu Current transport crossing the O-line near 26°N southeast of Okinawa (RT). Their mean sum (24 Sv) is less than the mean predicted Sverdrup transport. These KT and RT mean-flow estimates form a consistent pattern with historical estimates of other mean flows in the East China Sea/Philippine Basin region. While mean KT is larger than mean RT by a factor of 3.5, the amplitude of the KT annual cycle is only half that of RT. At the 95% confidence level the transports are coherent at periods of about 2 years and 100–200 days, with RT leading KT by about 60 days in each case. At the annual period, the transports are coherent at the 90% confidence level with KT leading RT by 4–5 months. While the bulk of the Kuroshio enters the ECS through the channel between Taiwan and Yonaguni-jima, analysis of satellite altimetry maps, together with the transport time series, indicates that the effect of mesoscale eddies is transmitted to the ECS via the Kerama Gap southwest of Okinawa. Once the effect of these eddies is felt by the ECS-Kuroshio at 28°N, it is advected rapidly to the Tokara Strait.
Autumn intensification of the Ryukyu Current during 2003-2007
Science China Earth Sciences, 2010
Inverse calculations using data from 16 repeat hydrographic transects collected from April 2003 to June 2007 have yielded velocity structures and volume transports (VTs) of the Ryukyu Current in the region east of the northern Ryukyu Islands. The inverse calculation results show that the Ryukyu Current is dominated by a subsurface velocity core with maximum velocities from 15.1 to 80.0 cm/s, whose positions vary between 110 and 600 dbar and 27.2°-28.2°N along the transect. The mean velocity exhibits a subsurface velocity core with a maximum value of 24.6 cm/s at 326 dbar depth, a VT of 14.0 Sv (1 Sv 10 ≡ 6 m 3 /s), a vertical dimension of 800 m, and a horizontal dimension of 60 km. The seasonal mean velocities show that the Ryukyu Current is stronger in autumn than in other seasons. It is suggested that this seasonal variation is coincident with the intensification of the anticyclonic eddy south of Shikoku, Japan.
Volume Transport Variability Southeast of Okinawa Island Estimated from Satellite Altimeter Data
Journal of Oceanography, 2004
A nine-year-long record of the northeastward volume transport (NVT) in the region southeast of Okinawa Island from 1992 to 2001 was estimated by an empirical relation between the volume transport obtained from the ocean mooring data and the sea surface height anomaly difference across the observation line during 270 days from November 2000. The NVT had large variations ranging from −10.5 Sv (1 Sv ≡ 106 m3s−1) to 30.0 Sv around its mean of 4.5 Sv with a standard deviation of 5.5 Sv. This large variation was accompanied by mesoscale eddies from the east, having a pronounced period from 106 to 160 days. After removal of the eddy, NVT was found to fluctuate from 2 Sv to 12 Sv with a quasi-biennial period.
Scientific Reports, 2020
The origin, structure, and variability of the Ryukyu Current (RC) have long been debated, mostly due to limited observations. A mooring array, deployed for two years southeast of Miyakojima in the southern portion of the Ryukyu Island chain, has provided, for the first time, data confirming the existence and revealing the characteristics of the RC in that upstream region, including its velocity structure and variability. The observations show a shoreward-intensified current flowing northeastward, with a subsurface core located near the 1,000 m isobath and having a record-long mean speed of up to 19.4 cm s−1 at 500 m depth. Estimated volume transport across the observation section had mean 9.0 Sv (1 Sv = 106 m3 s−1) and standard deviation 8.7 Sv. The RC shows significant barotropic character compared with other similar mid-latitude currents.
Journal of Marine Systems, 2009
Recent observations of hydrography, currents and volume transports in the straits of the East/Japan Sea are reviewed. It is newly found that bottom cold water in the Korea/Tsushima Strait originating from the northern region of the East/Japan Sea appears not only in summer and autumn but also in winter. Intensive observations in the Korea/Tsushima Strait revealed two distinct cores of northeastward currents in the upper layer of the western and eastern channels. Mean volume transport through the Korea/Tsushima Strait is calculated as 2.5 ± 0.5 Sv from four-year direct and indirect measurements. As continuous monitoring has started in the Tsugaru and Soya Straits, understanding of temporal variability of currents and volume transports through the straits is in progress. For the first time, simultaneous time series of volume transports are available in the Korea/Tsushima and Tsugaru Straits during the winter of 1999-2000. Ouflow through the Tsugaru Strait accounts for about 70% of inflow through the Korea/Tsushima Strait for this period.