A numerical study on the generation of the small meander of the Kuroshio off southern Kyûshû |
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| Authors: | Yoshihiko Sekine Yoshiaki Toba |
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| Institution: | (1) Geophysical Institute, Faculty of Science, Tohoku University, 980 Sendai, Japan |
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| Abstract: | The generation of small meanders of the Kuroshio off southern Kyûshû is investigated. Basing on the fact that the small meanders tend to follow an increase in velocity of the Kuroshio in the Satsunan region (Sekine andToba, 1981), the influence of this velocity increase on the quasi-stationary path of the Kuroshio is studied numerically. Simplified bottom and coastal topographies are employed in a two layer model ocean. A quasi-stationary numerical solution with a constant inflow is used for the initial condition, and a temporal increase in the inflow with corresponding leakage is employed as the boundary condition to investigate nonlinear effects due to the increase in current velocity. Experiments for four different physical models are carried out to determine the specific roles of the continental slope, the planetary -effect, and density stratification. Temporal increase in the inflow tends to cause offshore shift of the current path. But the topographic effect of the continental slope is strong enough that no significant shift of the current path occurs in the case of the barotropic ocean. However, in the case of a baroclinic ocean, temporal increase in the inflow does cause generation of small meanders, because density stratification diminishes the topographic effect. A larger density stratification provides more favorable condition for the appearance of the small meander, and a cyclonic eddy is formed on the continental side of the small meander path. |
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