Numerical Study of a Kyucho and a Bottom Intrusion in the Bungo Channel,Japan: Disturbances Generated by the Kuroshio Small Meanders |
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Authors: | Email author" target="_blank">Masazumi?AraiEmail author |
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Institution: | (1) Graduate School of Engineering, Hiroshima University, Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima 739-8527, Japan |
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Abstract: | The generation and propagation mechanisms of a Kyucho and a bottom intrusion in the Bungo Channel, Japan, have been studied
numerically using the hydrostatic primitive equations by assuming density stratification during summer. The experiments are
designed to generate a Kuroshio small meander in Hyuga-Nada, which acts as a trigger for these disturbances. After the current
speed of the Kuroshio is changed, a small meander is generated. At the head of the small meander, warm Kuroshio water is engulfed,
and encounters the southwest coast of Shikoku. However, convergence of heat flux on the bump off Cape Ashizuri suppresses
the generation of a warm disturbance, if the current speed is large. As the cold eddy associated with the small meander approaches
Cape Ashizuri, the heat flux diverges on the bump. This heat source forces a warm disturbance, which intrudes along the east
coast of the Bungo Channel as a baroclinic Kelvin wave (a Kyucho). After the cold eddy passes off Cape Ashizuri, the Kuroshio
approaches the bump again. Strong convergence of heat flux then occurs on the bump, which forces a cold disturbance. This
disturbance propagates as a topographic Rossby wave along the shelf break at the mouth of the channel. After the topographic
wave reaches the west end of the shelf break, it intrudes along the bottom layer of the channel as a density current (a bottom
intrusion). These results suggest that a Kyucho and a bottom intrusion are successive events associated with the propagation
of the small meander. |
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Keywords: | Kyucho bottom intrusion baroclinic Kelvin wave density current Kuroshio small meander Bungo Channel Cape Ashizuri |
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