scholarly journals Weak Thermocline Mixing in the North Pacific Low-Latitude Western Boundary Current System

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (20) ◽  
pp. 10,530-10,539 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhiyu Liu ◽  
Qiang Lian ◽  
Fangtao Zhang ◽  
Lei Wang ◽  
Mingming Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North Pacific ◽  
Current System ◽  
Western Boundary Current ◽  
Western Boundary ◽  
Boundary Current ◽  
Low Latitude ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Pacific

scholarly journals Tidally modified western boundary current drives interbasin exchange between the Sea of Okhotsk and the North Pacific

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hung-Wei Shu ◽  
Humio Mitsudera ◽  
Kaihe Yamazaki ◽  
Tomohiro Nakamura ◽  
Takao Kawasaki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North Pacific ◽  
Sea Of Okhotsk ◽  
Western Boundary Current ◽  
Western Boundary ◽  
Boundary Current ◽  
Exchange Flows ◽  
The Sea Of Okhotsk ◽  
The North ◽  
Interbasin Exchange ◽  
The North Pacific

AbstractThe interbasin exchange between the Sea of Okhotsk and the North Pacific governs the intermediate water ventilation and fertilization of the nutrient-rich subpolar Pacific, and thus has an enormous influence on the North Pacific. However, the mechanism of this exchange is puzzling; current studies have not explained how the western boundary current (WBC) of the subarctic North Pacific intrudes only partially into the Sea of Okhotsk. High-resolution models often exhibit unrealistically small exchanges, as the WBC overshoots passing by deep straits and does not induce exchange flows. Therefore, partial intrusion cannot be solely explained by large-scale, wind-driven circulation. Here, we demonstrate that tidal forcing is the missing mechanism that drives the exchange by steering the WBC pathway. Upstream of the deep straits, tidally-generated topographically trapped waves over a bank lead to cross-slope upwelling. This upwelling enhances bottom pressure, thereby steering the WBC pathway toward the deep straits. The upwelling is identified as the source of joint-effect-of-baroclinicity-and-relief (JEBAR) in the potential vorticity equation, which is caused by tidal oscillation instead of tidally-enhanced vertical mixing. The WBC then hits the island chain and induces exchange flows. This tidal control of WBC pathways is applicable on subpolar and polar regions globally.

scholarly journals A New Paradigm for the North Pacific Subthermocline Low-Latitude Western Boundary Current System

2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (9) ◽  
pp. 2407-2423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Qiu ◽  
Shuiming Chen ◽  
Daniel L. Rudnick ◽  
Yuji Kashino
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
North Pacific Ocean ◽  
Current System ◽  
Baroclinic Instability ◽  
Western Boundary ◽  
Boundary Current ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Low Latitude ◽  
The North

AbstractSubthermocline western boundary circulation along the low-latitude North Pacific Ocean (2°–25°N) is investigated by using profiling float and historical CTD/expendable CTD (XCTD) data and by analyzing an eddy-resolving global OGCM output. In contrast to the existing paradigm depicting it as a reversed pattern of the wind-driven circulation above the ventilated thermocline (i.e., depth < 26.8 σθ), the subthermocline western boundary circulation is found to comprise two components governed by distinct dynamical processes. For meridional scales shorter than 400 km, the boundary flows along the Philippine coast exhibit convergent patterns near 7°, 10°, 13°, and 18°N, respectively. These short-scale boundary flows are driven by the subthermocline eastward zonal jets that exist coherently across the interior North Pacific basin and are generated by the triad instability of wind-forced annual baroclinic Rossby waves. For meridional scales longer than 400 km, a time-mean Mindanao Undercurrent (MUC) is observed from 6° to 13°N together with another northward-flowing boundary flow beneath the Kuroshio from 16° to 24°N. Rather than remote eddy forcing from the interior Pacific Ocean, both of these broad-scale subthermocline boundary flows are induced by baroclinic instability of the overlying wind-driven western boundary currents, the Mindanao Current, and Kuroshio.

scholarly journals A Quality Control Procedure for Climatological Studies Using Argo Data in the North Pacific Western Boundary Current Region

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (12) ◽  
pp. 2717-2733 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenjing Jia ◽  
Dong Wang ◽  
Nadia Pinardi ◽  
Simona Simoncelli ◽  
Andrea Storto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Control ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
Western Boundary Current ◽  
Western Boundary ◽  
Control Procedure ◽  
Boundary Current ◽  
The North ◽  
Current Region ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The North Pacific

AbstractA quality control (QC) procedure is developed to estimate monthly mean climatologies from the large Argo dataset (2005–12) over the North Pacific western boundary current region. In addition to the individual QC procedure, which checks for instrumental, transmission, and gross errors, the paper describes and shows the impact of climatological checks (collective QC) on the quality of both processed profiles and resultant climatological distributions. Objective analysis (OA) is applied progressively to produce the gridded climatological fields. The method uses horizontal regional climatological averages defined in five regime-oriented subregions in the Kuroshio area and the Japan Sea. Performing the QC procedure on specific coherent subregions produces improved profiling data and climatological fields because more details about the local hydrodynamics are taken into consideration. Nonrepresentative data and random noises are more effectively rejected by this method, which has value both in defining a climatological mean and identifying outlier data. Assessing with both profiling and coordinated datasets, the agreement is reasonably good (particularly for those areas with abundant observations), but the results (although already smoothed) can capture more detailed or mesoscale features for further regional studies. The method described has the potential to meet future challenges in processing accumulating Argo observations in the coming decades.

scholarly journals On the Relationship between Synoptic Wintertime Atmospheric Variability and Path Shifts in the Gulf Stream and the Kuroshio Extension

2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. 3177-3192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terrence M. Joyce ◽  
Young-Oh Kwon ◽  
Lisan Yu
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
Gulf Stream ◽  
Kuroshio Extension ◽  
Storm Track ◽  
Western Boundary ◽  
Atmospheric Variability ◽  
The North ◽  
The Kuroshio ◽  
The North Pacific

Abstract Coherent, large-scale shifts in the paths of the Gulf Stream (GS) and the Kuroshio Extension (KE) occur on interannual to decadal time scales. Attention has usually been drawn to causes for these shifts in the overlying atmosphere, with some built-in delay of up to a few years resulting from propagation of wind-forced variability within the ocean. However, these shifts in the latitudes of separated western boundary currents can cause substantial changes in SST, which may influence the synoptic atmospheric variability with little or no time delay. Various measures of wintertime atmospheric variability in the synoptic band (2–8 days) are examined using a relatively new dataset for air–sea exchange [Objectively Analyzed Air–Sea Fluxes (OAFlux)] and subsurface temperature indices of the Gulf Stream and Kuroshio path that are insulated from direct air–sea exchange, and therefore are preferable to SST. Significant changes are found in the atmospheric variability following changes in the paths of these currents, sometimes in a local fashion such as meridional shifts in measures of local storm tracks, and sometimes in nonlocal, broad regions coincident with and downstream of the oceanic forcing. Differences between the North Pacific (KE) and North Atlantic (GS) may be partly related to the more zonal orientation of the KE and the stronger SST signals of the GS, but could also be due to differences in mean storm-track characteristics over the North Pacific and North Atlantic.

scholarly journals Spatial distribution of turbulent diapycnal mixing along the Mindanao current inferred from rapid-sampling Argo floats

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying He ◽  
Jianing Wang ◽  
Fan Wang ◽  
Toshiyuki Hibiya
Keyword(s):  
Turbulent Mixing ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
Water Mass ◽  
Strong Mixing ◽  
Western Boundary ◽  
Diapycnal Mixing ◽  
The North ◽  
Rapid Sampling ◽  
Mindanao Current ◽  
The North Pacific

AbstractThe Mindanao Current (MC) bridges the North Pacific low-latitude western boundary current system region and the Indonesian Seas by supplying the North Pacific waters to the Indonesian Throughflow. Although the previous study speculated that the diapycnal mixing along the MC might be strong on the basis of the water mass analysis of the gridded climatologic dataset, the real spatial distribution of diapycnal mixing along the MC has remained to be clarified. We tackle this question here by applying a finescale parameterization to temperature and salinity profiles obtained using two rapid-sampling profiling Argo floats that drifted along the MC. The western boundary (WB) region close to the Mindanao Islands and the Sangihe Strait are the two mixing hotspots along the MC, with energy dissipation rate ε and diapycnal diffusivity Kρ enhanced up to ~ 10–6 W kg−1 and ~ 10–3 m2 s−1, respectively. Except for the above two mixing hotspots, the turbulent mixing along the MC is mostly weak, with ε and Kρ to be 10–11–10–9 W kg−1 and 10–6–10–5 m2 s−1, respectively. Strong mixing in the Sangihe Strait can be basically attributed to the existence of internal tides, whereas strong mixing in the WB region suggests the existence of internal lee waves. We also find that water mass transformation along the MC mainly occurs in the Sangihe Strait where the water masses are subjected to strong turbulent mixing during a long residence time.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document