Mean circulation induced over bottom topography by mesoscale variabilities in the Kuroshio Extension |
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| Authors: | Motoyoshi Ikeda Akemi Yamada |
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| Institution: | (1) Graduate School of Environmental Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan |
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| Abstract: | Circulation could be generated over bottom topography by vertical shrinking or stretching of a water parcel, in which potential
vorticity is conserved. The water parcel moves up or down over the bottom topography yielding shrinking or stretching. In
addition to a prevailing current which advects the water parcel in one direction, an oscillatory motion can also induce shrinking
and stretching, and circulation is consequently generated over the bottom topography, once it is averaged in time. A two-layer
quasi-geostrophic model has been used to reproduce mesoscale variabilities both in and under the Kuroshio Extension around
the Shatsky Rise. A combination of TOPEX and ERS altimeters provided information on an eddy field near the sea surface, while
a data assimilation method was used to reconstruct the flow field below the main thermocline. Among various mesoscale processes
associated with the Kuroshio, it is remarkable that topographic Rossby waves trapped over the Shatsky Rise are generated by
the upper-layer mesoscale variability. A persistent anticyclonic circulation is produced on the Shatsky Rise through a water
parcel moving up and down over the bottom slope, and is consistent with the observed density anomaly in the WOA94. |
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| Keywords: | Kuroshio Extension mesoscale variability topographic effect data assimilation |
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