HR: 0800h
AN: OS41A-0154    [Abstracts]
TI: Integrated Monitoring of the Soya Warm Current Using HF Ocean Radars, Satellite Altimeters, Coastal Tide Gauges, and a Bottom-Mounted ADCP
AU: * Ebuchi, N
EM: ebuchi@lowtem.hokudai.ac.jp
AF: Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, N19-W8, Kita-ku, Sapporo, 0600819, Japan
AU: Fukamachi, Y
EM: yasuf@lowtem.hokudai.ac.jp
AF: Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, N19-W8, Kita-ku, Sapporo, 0600819, Japan
AU: Ohshima, K I
EM: ohshima@lowtem.hokudai.ac.jp
AF: Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, N19-W8, Kita-ku, Sapporo, 0600819, Japan
AU: Wakatsuchi, M
EM: masaakiw@lowtem.hokudai.ac.jp
AF: Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, N19-W8, Kita-ku, Sapporo, 0600819, Japan
AB: The Soya Warm Current (SWC) is a coastal boundary current, which flows along the coast of Hokkaido in the Sea of Okhotsk. The SWC flows into the Sea of Okhotsk from the Sea of Japan through the Soya/La Perouse Strait, which is located between Hokkaido, Japan, and Sakhalin, Russia. It supplies warm, saline water in the Sea of Japan to the Sea of Okhotsk and largely affects the ocean circulation and water mass formation in the Sea of Okhotsk, and local climate, environment and fishery in the region. However, the SWC has never been continuously monitored due to the difficulties involved in field observations related to, for example, severe weather conditions in the winter, political issues at the border strait, and conflicts with fishing activities in the strait. Detailed features of the SWC and its variations have not yet been clarified. In order to monitor variations in the SWC, three HF ocean radar stations were installed around the strait. The radar covers a range of approximately 70 km from the coast. It is shown that the HF radars clearly capture seasonal and subinertial variations of the SWC. The velocity of the SWC reaches its maximum, approximately 1 m/s, in summer, and weakens in winter. The velocity core is located 20 to 30 km from the coast, and its width is approximately 50 km. The surface transport by the Soya Warm Current shows a significant correlation with the sea level difference along the strait, as derived from coastal tide gauge records. The cross-current sea level difference, which is estimated from the sea level anomalies observed by the Jason-1 altimeter and a coastal tide gauge, also exhibits variation in concert with the surface transport and along-current sea level difference.
UR: http://www.lowtem.hokudai.ac.jp
DE: 4217 Coastal processes
DE: 4219 Continental shelf and slope processes (3002)
DE: 4512 Currents
DE: 4556 Sea level: variations and mean (1222, 1225, 1641)
DE: 4594 Instruments and techniques
SC: Ocean Sciences [OS]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting