Regeneration of a warm anticyclonic ring by cold water masses within the western subarctic gyre of the North Pacific

2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 211-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sachihiko Itoh ◽  
Ichiro Yasuda ◽  
Hiromichi Ueno ◽  
Toshio Suga ◽  
Shigeho Kakehi
Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4950 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-247
Author(s):  
DALE R. CALDER ◽  
LES WATLING

Fourteen species of hydroids, collected during August 2019 by ROV SuBastian of the Schmidt Ocean Institute, are reported from the Emperor Seamount chain in the western North Pacific Ocean. Two others, Candelabrum sp. and Eudendrium sp., were observed only on videos taken by the ROV. From collections and video observations, eight species of hydroids were found at Jingū Seamount, three at Yomei, Nintoku, and Annei seamounts, and one at Koko Seamount and Hess Rise. At Suiko and Godaigo seamounts, hydroids were seen in videos but they could not be identified. Latebrahydra schulzei, an endobiotic associate of the hexactinellid sponge Walteria flemmingii Schulze, 1886 from Annei Seamount and Hess Rise, is described as a new genus and species tentatively attributed to Hydractiniidae L. Agassiz, 1862. Another new species, Hydractinia galeai, is described from Jingū Seamount. Among its distinctive characters is a zooid termed a sellectozooid, likely serving in both food capture and defence. Hydroids examined from Yomei, Nintoku, and Jingū seamounts are elements of a cold-water fauna occurring in the North Pacific Boreal Bathyal province, while those of Annei and Koko seamounts, and Hess Rise, are part of the biota of the Central North Pacific Bathyal province. Hydroids identified as Bouillonia sp., from Nintoku Seamount, represent the first record of this predominantly deep water tubulariid genus in the North Pacific Ocean. Bonneviella superba Nutting, 1915, from Jingū Seamount, is reported for the first time outside the Aleutian Islands. Bonneviella cf. gracilis Fraser, 1939, known elsewhere only from Dease Strait in the western Canadian Arctic, was also collected on Jingū. In addition to hydroids, medusae of Ptychogastria polaris Allman, 1878 were observed on videos from Nintoku, Jingū, Annei, and Koko seamounts at depths between 2423–1422 m. An unidentified siphonophore was observed near bottom at 2282 m on Nintoku Seamount. 


Ocean Science ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. M. Bingham ◽  
T. Suga

Abstract. Winter mixed layer characteristics in the North Pacific Ocean are examined and compared between Argo floats in 2006 and the World Ocean Atlas 2001 (WOA01) climatology for a series of named water masses, North Pacific Tropical Water (NPTW), Eastern Subtropical Mode Water (ESTMW), North Pacific Subtropical Mode Water (NPSTMW), Light Central Mode Water (LCMW) and Dense Central Mode Water (DCMW). The WOA01 is found to be in good agreement with the Argo data in terms of water mass volumes, average temperature-salinity (T-S) properties, and outcrop areas. The exception to this conclusion is for the central mode waters, DCMW and LCMW, whose outcropping is shown to be much more intermittent than is apparent in the WOA01 and whose T-S properties vary from what is shown in the WOA01. Distributions of mixed layer T-S properties measured by floats are examined within the outcropping areas defined by the WOA01 and show some shifting of T-S characteristics within the confines of the named water masses. In 2006, all the water masses were warmer than climatology on average, with a magnitude of about 0.5°C. The NPTW, NPSTMW and LCMW were saltier than climatology and the ESTMW and DCMW fresher, with magnitudes of about 0.05. In order to put these results into context, differences between Argo and WOA01 were examined over the North Pacific between 20 and 45° N. A large-scsale warming and freshening is seen throughout this area, except for the western North Pacific, where results were more mixed.


2008 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michio Aoyama ◽  
Katsumi Hirose ◽  
Kazuhiro Nemoto ◽  
Yasushi Takatsuki ◽  
Daisuke Tsumune

2006 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 273-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongfu Xu ◽  
Shigeaki Aoki ◽  
Koh Harada

Abstract A basinwide ocean general circulation model of the North Pacific Ocean is used to study the sensitivity of the simulated distributions of water masses, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and bomb carbon-14 isotope (14C) to parameterizations of mesoscale tracer transports. Five simulations are conducted, including a run with the traditional horizontal mixing scheme and four runs with the isopycnal transport parameterization of Gent and McWilliams (GM). The four GM runs use different values of isopycnal and skew diffusivities. Simulated results show that the GM mixing scheme can help to form North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW). Greater isopycnal diffusivity enhances formation of NPIW. Although greater skew diffusivity can also generate NPIW, it makes the subsurface too fresh. Results from simulations of CFC uptake show that greater isopycnal diffusivity generates the best results relative to observations in the western North Pacific. The model generally underestimates the inventories of CFCs in the western North Pacific. The results from simulations of bomb 14C reproduce some observed features. Greater isopycnal diffusivity generates a longitudinal gradient of the inventory of bomb 14C from west to east, whereas greater skew diffusivity makes it reversed. It is considered that the ratio of isopycnal diffusivity to skew diffusivity is important. An increase in isopycnal diffusivity increases storage of passive tracers in the subtropical gyre.


2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuichi Nosaka ◽  
Tomonori Isada ◽  
Isao Kudo ◽  
Hiroaki Saito ◽  
Hiroshi Hattori ◽  
...  

2008 ◽  
Vol 21 (17) ◽  
pp. 4514-4528 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lu Anne Thompson ◽  
Wei Cheng

Abstract An examination of model water masses in the North Pacific Ocean is performed in the Community Climate System version 3 (CCSM3) and its ocean-only counterpart. While the surface properties of the ocean are well represented in both simulations, biases in thermocline and intermediate-water masses exist that point to errors in both ocean model physics and the atmospheric component of the coupled model. The lack of North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW) in both simulations as well as the overexpression of a too-fresh Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) is indicative of ocean model deficiencies. These properties reflect the difficulty of low-resolution ocean models to represent processes that control deep-water formation both in the Southern Ocean and in the Okhotsk Sea. In addition, as is typical of low-resolution ocean models, errors in the position of the Kuroshio, the North Pacific subtropical gyre western boundary current (WBC), impact the formation of the water masses that form the bulk of the thermocline as well as the properties of the NPIW. Biases that arise only in the coupled simulation include too-salty surface water in the subtropical North Pacific and too deep a thermocline, the source of which is the too-strong westerlies at midlatitudes. Biases in the location of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) and the southern Pacific convergence zone (SPCZ) lead to the opposite hemispheric asymmetry in water mass structure when compared to observations. The atmospheric component of the coupled model acts to compound most ocean model biases.


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