A comparison of the strength and position variability of the Kuroshio Extension SST front

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 26-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peilong Yu ◽  
Lifeng Zhang ◽  
Mingyang Liu ◽  
Quanjia Zhong ◽  
Yongchui Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Kuroshio Extension ◽  
Sst Front ◽  
The Kuroshio

scholarly journals Processes Shaping the Frontal-Scale Time-Mean Surface Wind Convergence Patterns around the Kuroshio Extension in Winter

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-25
Author(s):  
Ryusuke Masunaga ◽  
Hisashi Nakamura ◽  
Bunmei Taguchi ◽  
Takafumi Miyasaka
Keyword(s):  
Kuroshio Extension ◽  
Surface Wind ◽  
Convective Precipitation ◽  
Western Boundary ◽  
Boundary Currents ◽  
Sst Front ◽  
Atmospheric Structure ◽  
Mean Convergence ◽  
Daily Scale ◽  
The Kuroshio

AbstractHigh-resolution satellite observations and numerical simulations have revealed that climatological-mean surface wind convergence and precipitation are enhanced locally around the midlatitude warm western boundary currents (WBCs) with divergence slightly to their poleward side. While steep sea surface temperature (SST) fronts along the WBCs have been believed to play an important role in shaping those frontal-scale atmospheric structures, the mechanisms and processes involved are still under debate. The present study explores specific daily scale atmospheric processes that are essential for shaping the frontal-scale atmospheric structure around the Kuroshio Extension (KE) in winter, taking advantage of a new product of global atmospheric reanalysis. Cluster analysis and case studies reveal that a zonally extending narrow band of surface wind convergence frequently emerges along the KE, which is typically observed under the surface northerlies after the passage of a developed synoptic-scale cyclone. Unlike its counterpart around the cyclone center and associated cold front, the surface convergence tends to be in moderate strength and more persistent, contributing dominantly to the distinct time-mean convergence/divergence contrast across the SST front. Accompanying ascent and convective precipitation, the band of convergence is a manifestation of a weak stationary atmospheric front anchored along the SST front or generation of a weak meso-α-scale cyclone. By reinforcing the ascent and convergence, latent heating through convective processes induced by surface convergence plays an important role in shaping the frontal-scale atmospheric structure around the KE.

Different cyclone characteristics along the Gulf Stream and Kuroshio SST front regions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonidas Tsopouridis ◽  
Clemens Spensberger ◽  
Thomas Spengler
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Stream ◽  
Kuroshio Extension ◽  
Northwest Pacific ◽  
Western Boundary ◽  
Cold Side ◽  
Sst Front ◽  
The North ◽  
Relative Contribution ◽  
Upper Level ◽  
The Kuroshio

<p>The Northwest Atlantic and the Northwest Pacific are regions of strong temperature gradients and hence favourable locations for wintertime cyclone intensification co‐located with the storm tracks. Although the Gulf Stream and the Kuroshio Extension are both western boundary currents with similar characteristics, the SST gradient is markedly stronger across the Gulf Stream. Further, upper-level flow is stronger and more zonal over the Kuroshio Extension. To estimate the relative contribution of the SST front to the evolution of cyclones and to identify the mechanisms for cyclone intensification in the two regions, we track individual cyclones and categorise them depending on their propagation relative to the SST front. We focus on cyclones staying either on the cold (C1) or warm (C2) side of the SST front, and on cyclones that cross the SST front from the warm to the cold side (C3).  Comparing these categories, we find that low-level baroclinicity, particularly arising from the land–sea contrast, drives the higher intensification of cyclones in C1 and C3 in the Gulf Stream region, with the propagation of those cyclones near the left exit region of the North Atlantic jet contributing to the higher intensification and precipitation. In the Kuroshio region on the other hand, the land–sea contrast plays a less prominent role for the low‐level baroclinicity. Cyclones remaining on the warm side of the Kuroshio SST front (C2), as well as those crossing the SST front from the warm to the cold side (C3) are characterized by higher intensification, associated with a stronger upper-level jet in the Pacific. Comparing the different cyclone categories, there is no direct effect of the SST front on cyclone intensification in both regions. However, the SST front contributes to the climatological low‐level baroclinicity, providing a conducive environment for cyclone intensification for the cyclones crossing the SST front.</p>

Evidence for SST-Forced Anomalous Winds Revealed from Simultaneous Radiosonde Launches from Three Ships across the Kuroshio Extension Front

2016 ◽  
Vol 144 (10) ◽  
pp. 3553-3567 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hatsumi Nishikawa ◽  
Yoshihiro Tachibana ◽  
Yoshimi Kawai ◽  
Mayumi K. Yoshioka ◽  
Hisashi Nakamura
Keyword(s):  
Air Temperature ◽  
Kuroshio Extension ◽  
Vertical Wind Shear ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Surface Heat Fluxes ◽  
Sst Front ◽  
The North ◽  
Sst Anomaly ◽  
Air Temperature Anomaly ◽  
The Kuroshio

Simultaneous launches of radiosondes were conducted from three research vessels aligned meridionally across a sea surface temperature (SST) front on the flank of the Kuroshio Extension. The soundings carried out every 2 h over 5 days in early July 2012 provided a unique opportunity in capturing unambiguous data on anomalous easterly winds derived from a pronounced meridional SST gradient. The data indicate that a meridional contrast in surface heat fluxes from the underlying ocean enhanced the air temperature anomaly across the SST front, which was observed from the surface up to 300-m altitude. Correspondingly, high and low pressure anomalies that reached 800-m altitude formed on the north and south sides of the SST front, respectively. These temperature and pressure anomalies were maintained even during the passage of synoptic-scale disturbances. Although the free-tropospheric winds are overall westerly, winds below the 1000-m level were easterly due to geostrophic anomalies driven by the northward pressure gradient near the surface. During periods of the northerlies at the surface, especially over the warmer side of the SST front, the wind direction changed in a clockwise direction from 1500 m to the surface, in the opposite sense to the Ekman spiral. The vertical wind shear is apparently in the thermal wind balance ascribed to the meridional contrast in air temperature derived from the SST anomaly.

Cold air outbreak over the Kuroshio extension region

OCEANS 2009 ◽  
2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. G. Jensen ◽  
T. Campbell ◽  
T. A. Smith ◽  
R. J. Small ◽  
R. Allard
Keyword(s):  
Kuroshio Extension ◽  
Cold Air ◽  
Cold Air Outbreak ◽  
The Kuroshio ◽  
Kuroshio Extension Region

scholarly journals Variability of the nutrient stream near Kuroshio's origin

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen-Tung Arthur Chen ◽  
Ting-Hsuan Huang ◽  
Chi-Hsuan Wu ◽  
Haiyan Yang ◽  
Xinyu Guo
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
Continental Shelf ◽  
East China Sea ◽  
Kuroshio Extension ◽  
Subsurface Water ◽  
East China ◽  
The East China Sea ◽  
High Productivity ◽  
China Sea ◽  
The Kuroshio

AbstractThe Kuroshio—literally “the Black Stream”—is the most substantial current in the Pacific Ocean. It was called the Black Stream because this oligotrophic current is so nutrient-poor in its euphotic zone that the water appears black without the influence of phytoplankton and the associated, often colored dissolved organic matter. Yet, below the euphotic layer, nutrient concentrations increase with depth while current speed declines. Consequently, a core of maximum nutrient flux, the so-called nutrient stream, develops at a depth of roughly between 200 and 800 m. This poorly studied nutrient stream transports nutrients to and supports high productivity and fisheries on the East China Sea continental shelf; it also transports nutrients to and promotes increased productivity and fisheries in the Kuroshio Extension and the subarctic Pacific Ocean. Three modes of the Kuroshio nutrient stream are detected off SE Taiwan for the first time: one has a single-core; one has two cores that are apparently separated by the ridge at 120.6–122° E, and one has two cores that are separated by a southward flow above the ridge. More importantly, northward nutrient transports seem to have been increasing since 2015 as a result of a 30% increase in subsurface water transport, which began in 2013. Such a nutrient stream supports the Kuroshio's high productivity, such as on the East China Sea continental shelf and in the Kuroshio Extension SE of Japan.

A Positive Feedback Process Related to the Rapid Development of an Extratropical Cyclone over the Kuroshio/Kuroshio Extension

2018 ◽  
Vol 146 (2) ◽  
pp. 417-433 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hidetaka Hirata ◽  
Ryuichi Kawamura ◽  
Masaya Kato ◽  
Taro Shinoda
Keyword(s):  
Water Vapor ◽  
Positive Feedback ◽  
Heat Supply ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Kuroshio Extension ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Latent Heating ◽  
Sensible Heat ◽  
Feedback Process ◽  
The Kuroshio

Abstract The active roles of sensible heat supply from the Kuroshio/Kuroshio Extension in the rapid development of an extratropical cyclone, which occurred in the middle of January 2013, were examined by using a regional cloud-resolving model. In this study, a control experiment and three sensitivity experiments without sensible and latent heat fluxes from the warm currents were conducted. When the cyclone intensified, sensible heat fluxes from these currents become prominent around the cold conveyor belt (CCB) in the control run. Comparisons among the four runs revealed that the sensible heat supply facilitates deepening of the cyclone’s central pressure, CCB development, and enhanced latent heating over the bent-back front. The sensible heat supply enhances convectively unstable conditions within the atmospheric boundary layer along the CCB. The increased convective instability is released by the forced ascent associated with frontogenesis around the bent-back front, eventually promoting updraft and resultant latent heating. Additionally, the sensible heating leads to an increase in the water vapor content of the saturated air related to the CCB through an increase in the saturation mixing ratio. This increased water vapor content reinforces the moisture flux convergence at the bent-back front, contributing to the activation of latent heating. Previous research has proposed a positive feedback process between the CCB and latent heating over the bent-back front in terms of moisture supply from warm currents. Considering the above two effects of the sensible heat supply, this study revises the positive feedback process.

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 Influential Role of Moisture Supply from the Kuroshio/Kuroshio Extension in the Rapid Development of an Extratropical Cyclone

2015 ◽  
Vol 143 (10) ◽  
pp. 4126-4144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hidetaka Hirata ◽  
Ryuichi Kawamura ◽  
Masaya Kato ◽  
Taro Shinoda
Keyword(s):  
Diabatic Heating ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Kuroshio Extension ◽  
Lower Troposphere ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Conveyor Belt ◽  
Synoptic Scale ◽  
Warm Front ◽  
The Kuroshio

Abstract This study focused on an explosive cyclone migrating along the southern periphery of the Kuroshio/Kuroshio Extension in the middle of January 2013 and examined how those warm currents played an active role in the rapid development of the cyclone using a high-resolution coupled atmosphere–ocean regional model. The evolutions of surface fronts of the simulated cyclone resemble the Shapiro–Keyser model. At the time of the maximum deepening rate, strong mesoscale diabatic heating areas appear over the bent-back front and the warm front east of the cyclone center. Diabatic heating over the bent-back front and the eastern warm front is mainly induced by the condensation of moisture imported by the cold conveyor belt (CCB) and the warm conveyor belt (WCB), respectively. The dry air parcels transported by the CCB can receive large amounts of moisture from the warm currents, whereas the very humid air parcels transported by the WCB can hardly be modified by those currents. The well-organized nature of the CCB plays a key role not only in enhancing surface evaporation from the warm currents but also in importing the evaporated vapor into the bent-back front. The imported vapor converges at the bent-back front, leading to latent heat release. The latent heating facilitates the cyclone’s development through the production of positive potential vorticity in the lower troposphere. Its deepening can, in turn, reinforce the CCB. In the presence of a favorable synoptic-scale environment, such a positive feedback process can lead to the rapid intensification of a cyclone over warm currents.

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