Velocity structures and transports of the Kuroshio and the Ryukyu current during fall of 2000 estimated by an inverse technique |
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| Authors: | Xiao-Hua Zhu Jae-Hun Park Ikuo Kaneko |
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| Institution: | (1) Present address: Institute of Observational Research for Global Change/JAMSTEC, Natsushima-cho, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan;(2) State Key Laboratory of Satellite Ocean Environment Dynamics, Second Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Hangzhou, 310012, China;(3) Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, RI 02882-1197, USA;(4) Nagasaki Marine Observatory, Japan Meteorological Agency, Nagasaki 850-0931, Japan |
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| Abstract: | An inverse calculation using hydrographic section data collected from October to December 2000 yields velocity structure and
transports of the Kuroshio in the Okinawa Trough region of the East China Sea (ECS) and south of central Japan, and of the
Ryukyu Current (RC) southeast of the Ryukyu Islands. The results show the Kuroshio flowing from the ECS, through the Tokara
Strait (TK), with a subsurface maximum velocity of 89 cm s−1 at 460 dbar. In a section (TI) southeast of Kyushu, a subsurface maximum velocity of 92 cm s−1 at 250 dbar is found. The results also show the RC flowing over the continental slope from the region southeast of Okinawa
(OS) to the region east of Amami-Ohshima (AE) with a subsurface maximum velocity of 67 cm s−1 at 400 dbar, before joining the Kuroshio southeast of Kyushu (TI). The volume transport around the subsurface velocity maximum
southeast of Kyushu (TI) balances well with the sum of those in TK and AE. The temperature-salinity relationships found around
these velocity cores are very similar, indicating that the same water mass is involved. These results help demonstrate the
joining of the RC with the Kuroshio southeast of Kyushu. The net volume transport of the Kuroshio south of central Japan is
estimated to be 64∼79 Sv (1 Sv ≡ 106 m3s−1), of which 27 Sv are supplied by the Kuroshio from the ECS and 13 Sv are supplied by the RC from OS. The balance (about 24∼39
Sv) is presumably supplied by the Kuroshio recirculation south of Shikoku, Japan. |
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| Keywords: | Kuroshio Ryukyu Current inverse technique subsurface velocity core volume transport |
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