scholarly journals Northwest Pacific subtropical countercurrent on isopycnal surface in summer

2002 ◽  
Vol 29 (17) ◽  
pp. 23-1-23-4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter C. Chu ◽  
Rongfeng Li ◽  
Xiaobao You
Keyword(s):  
Northwest Pacific ◽  
Subtropical Countercurrent ◽  
Isopycnal Surface

Submesoscale Fronts and Their Dynamical Processes Associated with Symmetric Instability in the Northwest Pacific Subtropical Ocean

2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-100
Author(s):  
Zhiyou Jing ◽  
Baylor Fox-Kemper ◽  
Haijin Cao ◽  
Ruixi Zheng ◽  
Yan Du
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Active Surface ◽  
Upper Ocean ◽  
Northwest Pacific ◽  
Surface Boundary ◽  
Surface Boundary Layer ◽  
Subtropical Countercurrent ◽  
Surface Buoyancy ◽  
Symmetric Instability ◽  
Resolution Simulation

AbstractSubmesoscale density fronts and the associated processes of frontogenesis and symmetric instability (SI) are investigated in the northwest Pacific subtropical countercurrent (STCC) system by a high-resolution simulation and diagnostic analysis. Both satellite observations and realistic simulation show active surface fronts with a horizontal scale of ~20 km in the STCC upper ocean. Frontogenesis-induced buoyancy advection is detected to rapidly sharpen these density fronts. The direct straining effect of larger-scale geostrophic flows is a primary influence on the buoyancy-gradient frontogenetic tendency and frontal baroclinic potential vorticity (PV) enhancement. The enhanced lateral buoyancy gradients in conjunction with atmospheric forced surface buoyancy loss can produce a negative Ertel PV and trigger frontal SI in the STCC region. Up to 30% of the mixed layer (ML) inside a typical eddy has negative PV in the high-resolution simulation. As a result, the cross-front ageostrophic secondary circulations tend to restratify the surface boundary layer and induce a large vertical velocity reaching ~100 m day−1, substantially facilitating the vertical communication of the STCC system. At the same time, the SI is identified to be responsible for a forward cascade of geostrophic kinetic energy in the STCC region, despite the coexistence of ML eddies and SI in the deep winter ML. Therefore, these active density fronts and their SI-associated submesoscale processes play important roles in the enhanced vertical exchanges (e.g., heat, nutrients, and carbon) and energy transfer to smaller scales in the eddy-active STCC upper ocean, as well as triggering phytoplankton blooms at the periphery of eddies.

Archibald Menzies (1754–1842), an early botanist on the northwestern seaboard of North America, 1792–1794, with further notes on his life and work

2001 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
ERIC W. GROVES
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Pacific Coast ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Northwest Pacific ◽  
Historical Events ◽  
Short Biography

ABSTRACT: This paper includes a short biography of Menzies and an outline of the historical events on the northwest Pacific coast leading up to Vancouver's voyage. A table listing the botanical visitors to that area prior to 1792 is given followed by a résumé of the evolution of Menzies's journal. Sources used in compiling the chronology of his movements during Vancouver's voyage are then set down, ending the section with an account of Menzies's own visit, 1792–1794. His method of plant collecting is discussed along with an account of his collections and their subsequent disposal. The paper concludes with details of Menzies's later life, his connection with other botanists of the day, and an assessment of his achievements.

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