Wintertime sea surface temperature front around the Kuroshio Extension and its impact on North Pacific blocking

Author(s):  
Zhihui Che ◽  
Yao Yao ◽  
Linhao Zhong
2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lianxin Zhang ◽  
Changlong Guan ◽  
Chunjian Sun ◽  
Siyu Gao ◽  
Shaomei Yu

A one-dimensional turbulent model is used to investigate the effect of sea spray mediated turbulent fluxes on upper ocean temperature during the passage of typhoon Yagi over the Kuroshio Extension area in 2006. Both a macroscopical sea spray momentum flux algorithm and a microphysical heat and moisture flux algorithm are included in this turbulent model. Numerical results show that the model can well reproduce the upper ocean temperature, which is consistent with the data from the Kuroshio Extension Observatory. Besides, the sea surface temperature is decreased by about 0.5°C during the typhoon passage, which also agrees with the sea surface temperature dataset derived from Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for the Earth Observing and Reynolds. Diagnostic analysis indicates that sea spray acts as an additional source of the air-sea turbulent fluxes and plays a key role in increasing the turbulent kinetic energy in the upper ocean, which enhances the temperature diffusion there. Therefore, sea spray is also an important factor in determining the upper mixed layer depth during the typhoon passage.


1999 ◽  
Vol 56 (6) ◽  
pp. 973-983 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masayuki Noto ◽  
Ichiro Yasuda

The relationship between the population size of the Japanese sardine, Sardinops melanostictus, and sea surface temperature (SST) from 1979 to 1994 was studied. Significant positive correlations were found between the natural mortality coefficient during the period from the postlarval stage to age 1 and winter-spring SST in the Kuroshio Extension and its southern recirculation area (30-35°N, 145-180°E). That is, higher (lower) SST over the possible migration route corresponded to higher (lower) mortality rate. This result is consistent with the high mortality and low population size for the high-SST period of the 1950's and 1960's and the population increase during the low-SST period of the 1970's and 1980's due to a decrease in mortality. The population decline after 1988 possibly occurred as a result of the abrupt increase in SST since 1988 in the Kuroshio Extension region and suggests a close relationship between interdecadal climate-ocean variability and sardine population size. This may also explain the relationship between biomass size and distribution area.


2005 ◽  
Vol 18 (21) ◽  
pp. 4355-4373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niklas Schneider ◽  
Bruce D. Cornuelle

Abstract The Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO), defined as the leading empirical orthogonal function of North Pacific sea surface temperature anomalies, is a widely used index for decadal variability. It is shown that the PDO can be recovered from a reconstruction of North Pacific sea surface temperature anomalies based on a first-order autoregressive model and forcing by variability of the Aleutian low, El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and oceanic zonal advection anomalies in the Kuroshio–Oyashio Extension. The latter results from oceanic Rossby waves that are forced by North Pacific Ekman pumping. The SST response patterns to these processes are not orthogonal, and they determine the spatial characteristics of the PDO. The importance of the different forcing processes is frequency dependent. At interannual time scales, forcing from ENSO and the Aleutian low determines the response in equal parts. At decadal time scales, zonal advection in the Kuroshio–Oyashio Extension, ENSO, and anomalies of the Aleutian low each account for similar amounts of the PDO variance. These results support the hypothesis that the PDO is not a dynamical mode, but arises from the superposition of sea surface temperature fluctuations with different dynamical origins.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toru Miyama ◽  
Shoshiro Minobe ◽  
Hanako Goto

The sea surface temperature (SST) of the Oyashio region in boreal summer abruptly increased in 2010 and high summertime SST repeated every year until 2016. Observations and an ocean reanalysis show that this marine heatwave occurred not only at the surface but also at deeper depths down to 200 m. Furthermore, salinity in summer also increased in parallel with the temperature. The rises in temperature and salinity indicate the strengthening of the Kuroshio water influence. The sea surface height and velocity show that the southward intrusion of the Oyashio near the coast in summer weakened from 2010 accompanied by an increase in anticyclonic eddies from the Kuroshio Extension. The much more frequent existence of anticyclonic eddies to the east of the first intrusion of the Oyashio in summer is closely associated with the weakening of the first intrusion and the strengthening of the second intrusion. It is suggested that the rise in the water temperature could increase a catch of yellowtail (Seriola quinqueradiata) in northern Japan.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document