Skewed Occurrence Frequency of Water Temperature and Salinity in the Subarctic Regions

Size: px
Start display at page:

Download "Skewed Occurrence Frequency of Water Temperature and Salinity in the Subarctic Regions"

Transcription

1 Journal of Oceanography, Vol. 59, pp. 9 to 99, 3 Skewed Occurrence Frequency of Water Temperature and Salinity in the Subarctic Regions SACHIKO OGUMA *, TORU SUZUKI, SYDNEY LEVITUS and YUTAKA NAGATA Marine Information Research Center, JHA, 7-5- Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo -, Japan World Data Center for Oceanography, NODC/NOAA, Silver Spring, MD 9-3, U.S.A. (Received May 3; in revised form August 3; accepted 9 August 3) In a previous paper (Oguma and Nagata, ), it was shown that frequency distributions of temperature and salinity in the sea off Sanriku Coast, Japan are skewed, and sometimes observed values exceed m + 5σ (m = mean, σ = standard deviation). This means that, if we apply a 3σ criterion for a range check, many real data would be lost. We have expanded our analysis to the subarctic North Pacific, the subarctic North Atlantic and their surrounding areas, by computing the distributions of skewness and kurtosis. It is found that the region of high positive skewness extends in an eastnorth-east direction in the Mixed Water Region from off Sanriku, and reaches to about 55 E. A high negative skewness zone is recognized along the southern margin of the Kuroshio Extension. These are thought to be generated by the breaking of the meander of the Kuroshio Extension and subsequent ejection of warm and cold eddies to the north and south, respectively. Other high positive skewness areas are found to the south of Kuril Islands and in the Japan Sea. These are generated due to very sharp vertical gradients of temperature and salinity. The situation in the North Atlantic is very similar to the North Pacific, though the detailed nature is changed due to differences of oceanographic condition. The effect of grid size on the skewed nature of the distribution is also discussed. Keywords: Subarctic region, skewed occurrence frequency, quality control, range check, water intrusion.. Introduction By analyzing the data obtained by the Iwate Fisheries Technology Center in the sea off Sanriku Coast, Japan, we found that frequency distributions of observed temperature and salinity in the Mixed Water Region between the Kuroshio and Oyashio Fronts are very skewed, and the usual techniques of quality control, such as a range check, are hard to apply (Oguma and Nagata, ). For example, some of the temperature values observed at 3 m depth exceed m + 5σ (m is the mean and σ the standard deviation), as shown in Fig.. Though the frequency of high temperature values is low, they are shown to be real. These extreme values were found when pure, unmodified Kuroshio Water intrudes into the region due to very specific events such as the approach of Large Warm Eddies or an abnormal northward intrusion of the Kuroshio along the Sanriku Coast (Oguma and Nagata, ). * Corresponding author. oguma@mirc.jha.or.jp Copyright The Oceanographic Society of Japan. Therefore, if we apply a 3σ criterion, and delete the data which lie outside of the range m ± 3σ, many of the real data will be lost. We represent the non-normal nature of observed frequency distributions by using skewness and kurtosis, and expand our region of analysis to the subarctic North Pacific Ocean and subarctic North Atlantic Ocean and their surrounding areas.. Data Used and Representation of Skewed Nature of Frequency Distributions The Marine Information Research Center (MIRC) of the Japan Hydrographic Association conducted detailed quality checks on the oceanic data in the Northwestern North Pacific, and compiled the MIRC Ocean Dataset (MODS-: MIRC, ). This dataset was used for analysis in the Western North Pacific. For the analysis in the North Atlantic Ocean, World Ocean Database (WOD-: Ocean Climate Laboratory, NODC, ) was used. We used data interpolated to standard depths. In WOD-, a range check was done by using a 3σ criterion before the interpolation procedure. As the 9

2 Fig.. Occurrence frequency distribution of temperature at 3 m depth off Sanriku Coast, Japan. Below the abscissa, two kinds of standard deviation scale are shown: the upper scale is based on the standard deviation calculated directly from the distribution shown, and the lower is based on the converged standard deviation, which was obtained by an iterative procedure in which data lying outside the range m ± 3σ are omitted, and m and σ are recalculated using remaining data (Oguma and Nagata, ). Fig.. Mean temperature distributions at m (upper figure), at m depth (middle figure), and at 3 m depth (lower figure) in the Western North Pacific. Numerals attached to isotherms indicate temperature in C. WOD- dataset draws data from a variety of sources, this process is quite useful to eliminate possible erroneous data. Since this check was made for 5-degree subregions, if we re-analyze these data for -degree sub-regions, some of data may lie outside the range m ± 3σ, which was calculated afresh for the -degree sub-regions. The area analyzed was basically divided into -degree sub-regions. In the case of the North Atlantic, analysis was also done for 5-degree sub-regions, and the results were compared with those for -degree sub-regions. There are few data below m in the subarctic Pacific Ocean, and the results of were used only for a check. There are various methods to represent the skewed nature of a distribution, but we adopted moments of higher orders, skewness and kurtosis. Skewness is defined by (x i m) 3 /(n )σ 3 and kurtosis by (x i m) /(n )σ, where x i is the value of the i-th data point and n the number of data. m is the mean and m = (x i )/n, and σ the standard deviation σ = (x i m) /(n ). For normal distribution, skewness becomes zero, and kurtosis becomes 3. The excess of kurtosis, (x i m) /(n )σ 3 is used as kurtosis in this paper. 3. Mean Temperature Fields and Standard Deviation Fields in the Western North Pacific Mean temperature fields in the Western North Pacific for m, m and 3 m depths are shown in Fig.. The mean temperature decreases monotonically from south to north, and the high gradient zone corresponds to the Mixed Water Region between the Kuroshio and Oyashio Fronts. The densest isotherms are seen at the northern edge of the Mixed Water Region at m depth, and its position shifts southward as the depth increases. Standard deviation fields in the Western North Pacific for m, m and 3 m depths are shown in Fig. 3. The standard deviation shows a high-value band extending in the east-west direction, which corresponds to the highest gradient zone in temperature fields at each depth. These high standard deviation values are thought to be generated by the current path fluctuation of the Kuroshio Extension. The value tends to decrease eastward, as north-south temperature gradient is weakened eastward. 9 S. Oguma et al.

3 Fig. 3. As in Fig,, except for standard deviation fields. Fig.. As in Fig. except for skewness fields.. Skewness and Kurtosis Fields in the Western North Pacific Skewness and kurtosis fields in the Western North Pacific for m, m and 3 m depths are shown in Figs. and 5, respectively. Kurtosis distribution is a little simpler than skewness distribution, but high kurtosis values are generated in the area where high absolute values of skewness occur. This means that the distribution is not only skewed but also has a sharp peak and/or long tails. In general, kurtosis distributions appear to provide little additional information to skewness distributions, and will not be discussed further in this paper.. Peak area in the Mixed Water Region The skewness distribution at 3 m depth has a high positive value region extending from the sea off Sanriku Coast (39 N, E) towards the east-north-east. This high skewness region is not observed in the distribution at m depth. The distribution at m depth shows relatively high values in the corresponding region, but it is masked by another high value region to the south of Kuril Islands. We selected the -degree sub-region centered at N, 3 E as a representative region, and show frequency distributions of temperature and salinity for various depths ranging from to 5 m in Fig.. The m m 3 m Fig. 5. As in Fig., except for kurtosis fields. Skewed Occurrence Frequency of Water Temperature and Salinity in the Subarctic Regions 93

4 Fig.. Variations of the occurrence frequency distribution of temperature (left) and salinity (right) with depth in the -degree sub-region centered at N, 3 E. The depth is indicated in the figure. Black triangle attached to abscissa indicates m, and white triangles m ± 3σ. Values of mean, standard deviation, skewness, and kurtosis are shown for each figure. distributions are greatly skewed below m. It appears that the distributions below m are rather symmetric, but available data are very limited for these deeper depths. The vertical changes of the distribution patterns are very similar to those in the sea off Sanriku Coast discussed by Oguma and Nagata () (see figure of their paper). So this skewed nature can be understood in terms of sporadic intrusion of warm eddies ejected by the breaking of meanders of the Kuroshio Extension. The high value region extends eastward to about 55 E near the position of the Shatsky Rise.. Peak area to the south of the Kuroshio Extension A negative high value region extending east-west between 3 N and 35 N is seen in the skewness distributions at m depth and at 3 m depth. Some signature can also be seen in the distribution at m depth. We selected the -degree sub-region centered at 33 N, E, and show the frequency distribution of temperature at m, m, m and 3 m depths in Fig. 7. The distribution pattern is a mirror of the distributions observed in the Mixed Water Region. This skewness is thought to be generated by sporadic ejection of cold water eddies caused by the southward breaking of meanders of the Kuroshio Extension..3 Peak area in shallow layers to the south of the Kuril Islands In the skewness distributions at m and m depths, there is a high value region extending in the eastwest direction to the south of the Kuril Islands. However, no corresponding region can be seen in the distribution at 3 m depth. We selected the -degree sub-region centered at 3 N, 5 E, and show the frequency distri- 9 S. Oguma et al.

5 Fig. 7. Variations of the occurrence frequency distribution of temperature with depth in the -degree sub-region centered at 33 N, E. The depth is indicated in the figure. Black triangle attached to abscissa indicates m, and white triangles m ± 3σ. Values of mean, standard deviation, skewness, and kurtosis are shown for each figure. bution of temperature at m, 5 m, m and m depths in Fig.. There one can see considerable warm water at the sea surface. This results from the fact that observations there were made mainly in the summer season. This warm water is usually confined to the thin surface layer (e.g. Dodimead, 97; Nagata et al., 99). The maximum temperature value is considerably decreased, and its frequency becomes low at 5 m depth. However, some influence of the surface warm water can be seen down to m depth, and the distribution pattern has a tail on the higher temperature side, resulting in high positive skewness values up to this depth. It is difficult to discuss the nature of downward penetration of the surface warm water using the limited data presently available. Possible causes might be horizontal change of the thickness of the surface layer, internal waves and their breaking, or mixing due to strong storms. The first two cases are associated with high temperature and salinity contrasts in the horizontal direction, and this case is associated with high contrast in the vertical direction. Another high value region is seen inside the Japan Sea. There warm, saline water is influenced by the Tsushima Current in the surface layer, with very homogeneous Japan Sea Proper Water below it. The interface between two waters is generally sharp, and the high Fig.. As in Fig. 7, except for the -degree sub-region centered at 3 N, 5 E. skewness and kurtosis values are due to similar mechanism in the region south of the Kuril Islands. 5. Skewness Fields in the Western North Atlantic Skewness distributions in the Western North Atlantic are calculated for -degree sub-regions, and the skewness distributions are shown in Figs. 9 and for m, and 3 m depths. The skewness values at m depth (Fig. 9) are small except in the region southeast of Newfoundland Island where the Labrador Current Water encounters the Gulf Stream Water. At 3 m depth (Fig. ), the high north-south gradient zone corresponds to the average position of the Gulf Stream. The sign of the skewness changes from positive to negative crossing the stream from north to south. The situation is similar to the case crossing the Kuroshio Extension (see Fig. ). However, the positive ridge along the north edge of the Gulf Stream is not so conspicuous compared with the corresponding ridge in the North Pacific. The warm eddies ejected north from the Gulf Stream generally flow westwards and are re-absorbed into the Gulf Stream, and have a relatively short life time. Most of the warm eddies ejected from the Kuroshio Extension move northward, and are observed to persist for several years. The warm eddies in the North Atlantic have relatively smaller scale than those found in the North Pacific. This would make the positive ridge in the North Atlantic weaker. Skewed Occurrence Frequency of Water Temperature and Salinity in the Subarctic Regions 95

6 Fig.. Occurrence frequency distributions in the sub-region centers at 3 N, 7 W (left figures: Sub-region A) and in that centered at 7 N, 7 W (right figures: Sub-region B). The distributions at 3 m depth are shown in the upper row, and those at 5 m depth the lower row. Fig. 9. Skewness distribution at m depth in the Western North Atlantic. Fig.. As in Fig. 9, except for 3 m depth. The high negative skewness band along the southern edge of the Gulf Stream is strong, and comparable to that along the Kuroshio Extension. Ejection of cold eddies southward from the meander of the Gulf Stream is often observed, similar to the case of the Kuroshio Extension. This high skewness band extends to about 5 W. Large negative skewness values are found in the 3 m depth (Fig. ) to the east of the Florida Peninsula. There are two peaks at the -degree sub-region centered at 3 N, 7 W (Sub-region A) and at the sub-region centered at 7 N, 7 W (Sub-region B). The occurrence frequency distributions of temperature at 3 m depth (upper figures) and 5 m depth (lower figures) are shown in Fig. for Sub-region A (left figures) and for Subregion B (right figures). In the frequency distribution of Sub-region A, two temperature data lie well below the m-3σ level, both at 3 m and 5 m. These two data were obtained on September 9 at adjacent stations. The observed temperature are 5.9 C at 3 m and.3 C at 5 m at one station, and.33 C at 3 m and 7.9 C at 5 m at the other. In addition to abnormally low temperature values, the vertical temperature gradients between 3 m and 5 m for these data are abnormally high in comparison with the vertical gradient of the main peak value of the distribution. In Sub-region B, the abnormally low temperature values were observed on 3 February 97 both at 3 m depth (. C) and at 5 m depth (. C). These are other questionable temperature values (5. C at 3 m and.9 C at 5 m) which were observed at one station occupied on 3 March 97. These data are well isolated from other data in the distributions, and we feel that these data are erroneous, though more elaborate analysis is necessary to verify this. If we omit these data, the skewness would be much smaller and its sign would be changed for these sub-regions.. Dependence of Sub-Region Scale on Occurrence Frequency Distribution As seen in Fig., number of available data decreases considerably with depth, and the detailed nature of the distribution nature is difficult to discuss below 5 m in the Western North Pacific. For such cases we need to select a broader sub-region. We adopted broader 5-degree sub-regions for the analysis of the 5 m depth surface in 9 S. Oguma et al.

7 Fig.. As in Fig., except for the 5-degree sub-region centered at 37.5 N, 7 W in the Western North Atlantic. the North Atlantic, and found a conspicuous bi-modal distribution in the vicinity of the Gulf Stream System. As an example, variations of occurrence frequency distributions of temperature and salinity with depth are shown in Fig. for the 5-degree sub-region centered at 37.5 N, 7 W. Both the temperature and salinity distributions show a bi-modal feature below m. In order to understand why such a bi-modal structure occurred, we selected two representative -degree sub-regions to the north of the Gulf Stream centered at 39 N, 7 W and to the south of the Gulf Stream centered at 37 N, 7 W, respectively. The occurrence frequency distributions of temperature in these sub-regions are shown in Fig. 3 for various depths. The distribution patterns below m are much skewed. In the sub-region to the north of the Gulf Stream, the distributions below m depth have tails on the higher temperature side, while in the sub-region to the south of the Gulf Stream the distributions have tails on lower temperature side. It should be noted that the distributions have single a peak, and the bi-modal structure is disappeared. The distribution patterns to the north and south of the Gulf Stream are the same as those seen on the 3 m depth surface to the north and south of the Kuroshio Extension shown in Figs. 7 and, respectively. When the larger 5-degree sub-region is used, it can be shown that a bi-modal structure is also generated in the vicinity of the Kuroshio and the Kuroshio Extension. The horizontal distributions of skewness at 5 m depth based on -degree sub-regions are shown in Fig.. The distributions are almost identical to those at 3 m (Fig. ). The distribution pattern would have multiple peaks if the regions analyzed are wide and contain multiple domains having water masses quite different from each other. So we need to pay special attention to quality con- Skewed Occurrence Frequency of Water Temperature and Salinity in the Subarctic Regions 97

8 Fig. 3. Occurrence frequency distributions of temperature for various depths in the -degree sub-region centered at 39 N, 7 W (left figure) to the north of the Gulf Stream, and that at 37 N, 7 W (right figure) to the south of the Gulf Stream. The depth is indicated in each figure. Calculated mean, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis are shown also in each the figure. trol in such regions. Also, the values of skewness might become large in such regions. 7. Concluding Remarks In order to perform high grade quality checks, we need to know the nature of occurrence frequency distributions in the region under consideration. If the distribution is skewed, a 3σ criterion is difficult to apply in the range check procedure. It is shown that large skewness values appear in many regions in the subarctic North Pacific, subarctic North Atlantic and their adjacent regions. However, it should be noted that a skewed occurrence frequency distribution may be found in the seas where large temperature and salinity contrasts exist in the horizontal or vertical direction. For example, we found many skewed salinity distributions in the surface layer in the sea near the mouth of the Amazon River, where the horizontal salinity gradient is considerable. We need to conduct surveys to find where large skewed distributions occur in the world ocean, but it should be recalled that the nature of the distribution may be changed due to the size of the analyzed sub-domains selected. If we use broad sub-regions where sharp fronts exist, the distribution might be bi-modal. Moreover, the skewness value is greatly increased if erroneous extreme values exist in the dataset. In the analysis of the skewed nature of the distribution, we may apply a range check by using a 3σ criterion for sufficiently larger sub-regions at first, in order to exclude such erroneous values. Even so, we should remember that skewness and kurtosis can represent only some aspect of the skewed distribution. We always need to check the original distribution patterns. 9 S. Oguma et al.

9 Acknowledgements We would like to thank Prof. Kimio Hanawa of Tohoku University for his valuable advice. We thank the Iwate Fisheries Technology Center for providing us with valuable observation data. The works were partly supported by the Science and the Technology Agency (International Cooperative Experiments on North Pacific Subarctic Gyre and Climate Change: SAGE) and by the Nippon Foundation. Fig.. As in Fig. 9, except for 5 m depth. References Dodimead, A. J. (97): Winter oceanographic conditions in the central Subarctic Pacific. Int. North Pacific Comm., Doc. 999,. Marine Information Research Center (): MIRC Ocean Dataset Documentation, MIRC Technical Report No., 9 pp. (in Japanese). Nagata, Y., K. Ohtani and M. Kashiwai (99): Subarctic Gyre in the North Pacific Ocean. Umi no Kenkyu,, 75 (in Japanese). Ocean Climate Laboratory, NODC (): World Ocean Database. National Oeanographic Data Center Internal Report, 37 pp. Oguma, S. and Y. Nagata (): Skewed water temperature occurrence frequency in the sea off Sanriku, Japan, and intrusion of the pure Kuroshio Water. J. Oceanogr., 5, Skewed Occurrence Frequency of Water Temperature and Salinity in the Subarctic Regions 99

Outflow of Okhotsk Sea Water and the oceanic condition of the sea east of Hokkaido

Outflow of Okhotsk Sea Water and the oceanic condition of the sea east of Hokkaido Sea ice, water mass and freshwater processes/coastal lagoons Outflow of Okhotsk Sea Water and the oceanic condition of the sea east of okkaido Yutaka Nagata Marine Information Research Center, Japan ydrographic

More information

Bifurcation Current along the Southwest Coast of the Kii Peninsula

Bifurcation Current along the Southwest Coast of the Kii Peninsula Journal of Oceanography, Vol. 54, pp. 45 to 52. 1998 Bifurcation Current along the Southwest Coast of the Kii Peninsula JUNICHI TAKEUCHI 1, NAOTO HONDA 2, YOSHITAKA MORIKAWA 2, TAKASHI KOIKE 2 and YUTAKA

More information

Characteristics of Variations of Water Properties and Density Structure around the Kuroshio in the East China Sea

Characteristics of Variations of Water Properties and Density Structure around the Kuroshio in the East China Sea Journal of Oceanography, Vol. 54, pp. 605 to 617. 1998 Characteristics of Variations of Water Properties and Density Structure around the Kuroshio in the East China Sea EITAROU OKA and MASAKI KAWABE Ocean

More information

Warm Eddy Movements in the Eastern Japan Sea

Warm Eddy Movements in the Eastern Japan Sea Journal of Oceanography Vol. 50, pp. 1 to 15. 1994 Warm Eddy Movements in the Eastern Japan Sea YUTAKA ISODA Department of Civil and Ocean Engineering, Ehime University, Matsuyama 790, Japan (Received

More information

A Study on Residual Flow in the Gulf of Tongking

A Study on Residual Flow in the Gulf of Tongking Journal of Oceanography, Vol. 56, pp. 59 to 68. 2000 A Study on Residual Flow in the Gulf of Tongking DINH-VAN MANH 1 and TETSUO YANAGI 2 1 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Ehime University,

More information

Warm Water Intrusion from the Kuroshio into the Coastal Areas South of Japan

Warm Water Intrusion from the Kuroshio into the Coastal Areas South of Japan Journal of Oceanography Vol. 49, pp. 607 to 624. 1993 Warm Water Intrusion from the Kuroshio into the Coastal Areas South of Japan AKIHIDE KASAI, SHINGO KIMURA and TAKASHIGE SUGIMOTO Ocean Research Institute,

More information

Observation of Oceanic Structure around Tosa-Bae Southeast of Shikoku

Observation of Oceanic Structure around Tosa-Bae Southeast of Shikoku Journal of Oceanography Vol. 50, pp. 543 to 558. 1994 Observation of Oceanic Structure around Tosa-Bae Southeast of Shikoku YOSHIHIKO SEKINE, HARUKI OHWAKI and MOTOYA NAKAGAWA Institute of Oceanography,

More information

Applications of an ensemble Kalman Filter to regional ocean modeling associated with the western boundary currents variations

Applications of an ensemble Kalman Filter to regional ocean modeling associated with the western boundary currents variations Applications of an ensemble Kalman Filter to regional ocean modeling associated with the western boundary currents variations Miyazawa, Yasumasa (JAMSTEC) Collaboration with Princeton University AICS Data

More information

Serial No. N4470 NAFO SCR Doc. 01/83 SCIENTIFIC COUNCIL MEETING SEPTEMBER 2001

Serial No. N4470 NAFO SCR Doc. 01/83 SCIENTIFIC COUNCIL MEETING SEPTEMBER 2001 NOT TO BE CITED WITHOUT PRIOR REFERENCE TO THE AUTHOR(S) Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization Serial No. N7 NAFO SCR Doc. /8 SCIENTIFIC COUNCIL MEETING SEPTEMBER Sea-surface Temperature and Water

More information

Current Variation in the Sea near the Mouth of Suruga Bay*

Current Variation in the Sea near the Mouth of Suruga Bay* fl Journal of the Oceanographical Vol.40, pp.193 to 198, 1984 Society of Japan Current Variation in the Sea near the Mouth of Suruga Bay* Hideo Inabat Abstract: In order to investigate the circulation

More information

Upper Ocean Circulation

Upper Ocean Circulation Upper Ocean Circulation C. Chen General Physical Oceanography MAR 555 School for Marine Sciences and Technology Umass-Dartmouth 1 MAR555 Lecture 4: The Upper Oceanic Circulation The Oceanic Circulation

More information

Climate. Annual Temperature (Last 30 Years) January Temperature. July Temperature. Average Precipitation (Last 30 Years)

Climate. Annual Temperature (Last 30 Years) January Temperature. July Temperature. Average Precipitation (Last 30 Years) Climate Annual Temperature (Last 30 Years) Average Annual High Temp. (F)70, (C)21 Average Annual Low Temp. (F)43, (C)6 January Temperature Average January High Temp. (F)48, (C)9 Average January Low Temp.

More information

Circulation in the South China Sea in summer of 1998

Circulation in the South China Sea in summer of 1998 Circulation in the South China Sea in summer of 1998 LIU Yonggang, YUAN Yaochu, SU Jilan & JIANG Jingzhong Second Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration (SOA), Hangzhou 310012, China;

More information

Simulation of Radioactivity Concentrations in the Sea Area (the 5th report

Simulation of Radioactivity Concentrations in the Sea Area (the 5th report Simulation of Radioactivity Concentrations in the Sea Area (the 5th report Press Release May 24, 2011 Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology 1. Outline The Ministry of Education,

More information

Seasonal Variations of Water Properties and the Baroclinic Flow Pattern in Toyama Bay under the Influence

Seasonal Variations of Water Properties and the Baroclinic Flow Pattern in Toyama Bay under the Influence Journal of Oceanography, Vol. 61, pp. 943 to 952, 2005 Seasonal Variations of Water Properties and the Baroclinic Flow Pattern in Toyama Bay under the Influence of the Tsushima Warm Current SATOSHI NAKADA

More information

Directed Reading. Section: Ocean Currents. a(n). FACTORS THAT AFFECT SURFACE CURRENTS

Directed Reading. Section: Ocean Currents. a(n). FACTORS THAT AFFECT SURFACE CURRENTS Skills Worksheet Directed Reading Section: Ocean Currents 1 A horizontal movement of water in a well-defined pattern is called a(n) 2 What are two ways that oceanographers identify ocean currents? 3 What

More information

Produced by Canadian Ice Service of. 2 December Seasonal Outlook Gulf of St Lawrence and East Newfoundland Waters Winter

Produced by Canadian Ice Service of. 2 December Seasonal Outlook Gulf of St Lawrence and East Newfoundland Waters Winter Environment Canada Environnement Canada Produced by Canadian Ice Service of Environment Canada 2 December 2010 Seasonal Outlook Gulf of St Lawrence and East Newfoundland Waters Winter 2010-2011 2010 Canadian

More information

Five years monitoring activity on radioactive cesium in seawater after the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident

Five years monitoring activity on radioactive cesium in seawater after the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident Five years monitoring activity on radioactive cesium in seawater after the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident H. Kaeriyama 1*, D. Ambe 1, Y. Shigenobu 1, S. Miki 1, T. Morita 1, H. Sugisaki

More information

On the world-wide circulation of the deep water from the North Atlantic Ocean

On the world-wide circulation of the deep water from the North Atlantic Ocean Journal of Marine Research, 63, 187 201, 2005 On the world-wide circulation of the deep water from the North Atlantic Ocean by Joseph L. Reid 1 ABSTRACT Above the deeper waters of the North Atlantic that

More information

Hydrography and biological resources in the western Bering Sea. Gennady V. Khen, Eugeny O. Basyuk. Pacific Research Fisheries Centre (TINRO-Centre)

Hydrography and biological resources in the western Bering Sea. Gennady V. Khen, Eugeny O. Basyuk. Pacific Research Fisheries Centre (TINRO-Centre) Hydrography and biological resources in the western Bering Sea Gennady V. Khen, Eugeny O. Basyuk Pacific Research Fisheries Centre (TINRO-Centre) Bering Sea: deep-sea basin, shelf, and US-Russia convention

More information

The Taiwan-Tsushima Warm Current System: Its Path and the Transformation of the Water Mass in the East China Sea

The Taiwan-Tsushima Warm Current System: Its Path and the Transformation of the Water Mass in the East China Sea Journal of Oceanography, Vol. 55, pp. 185 to 195. 1999 The Taiwan-Tsushima Warm Current System: Its Path and the Transformation of the Water Mass in the East China Sea ATSUHIKO ISOBE Department of Earth

More information

Ocean Boundary Currents Guiding Question: How do western boundary currents influence climate and ocean productivity?

Ocean Boundary Currents Guiding Question: How do western boundary currents influence climate and ocean productivity? Name: Date: TEACHER VERSION: Suggested Student Responses Included Ocean Boundary Currents Guiding Question: How do western boundary currents influence climate and ocean productivity? Introduction The circulation

More information

Cold air outbreak over the Kuroshio Extension Region

Cold air outbreak over the Kuroshio Extension Region Cold air outbreak over the Kuroshio Extension Region Jensen, T. G. 1, T. Campbell 1, T. A. Smith 1, R. J. Small 2 and R. Allard 1 1 Naval Research Laboratory, 2 Jacobs Engineering NRL, Code 7320, Stennis

More information

Climate/Ocean dynamics

Climate/Ocean dynamics Interannual variations of the East-Kamchatka and East-Sakhalin Currents volume transports and their impact on the temperature and chemical parameters in the Okhotsk Sea Andrey G. Andreev V.I. Il ichev

More information

(Received 9 June 1997; in revised form 29 August 1997; accepted 29 August 1997)

(Received 9 June 1997; in revised form 29 August 1997; accepted 29 August 1997) Journal of Oceanography, Vol. 53, pp. 623 to 631. 1997 Trends and Interannual Variability of Surface Layer Temperature in the Indian Sector of the Southern Ocean Observed by Japanese Antarctic Research

More information

Weather & Ocean Currents

Weather & Ocean Currents Weather & Ocean Currents Earth is heated unevenly Causes: Earth is round Earth is tilted on an axis Earth s orbit is eliptical Effects: Convection = vertical circular currents caused by temperature differences

More information

KUALA LUMPUR MONSOON ACTIVITY CENT

KUALA LUMPUR MONSOON ACTIVITY CENT T KUALA LUMPUR MONSOON ACTIVITY CENT 2 ALAYSIAN METEOROLOGICAL http://www.met.gov.my DEPARTMENT MINISTRY OF SCIENCE. TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATIO Introduction Atmospheric and oceanic conditions over the tropical

More information

The Planetary Circulation System

The Planetary Circulation System 12 The Planetary Circulation System Learning Goals After studying this chapter, students should be able to: 1. describe and account for the global patterns of pressure, wind patterns and ocean currents

More information

Western Boundary Currents. Global Distribution of Western Boundary Currents and their importance

Western Boundary Currents. Global Distribution of Western Boundary Currents and their importance Western Boundary Currents In previous chapters you have learned about the processes that cause the intensification of currents along the western boundaries of the oceans. In this chapter we will examine

More information

CHAPTER IV THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OCEANOGRAPHY AND METEOROLOGY

CHAPTER IV THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OCEANOGRAPHY AND METEOROLOGY CHAPTER IV THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OCEANOGRAPHY AND METEOROLOGY THE relationship between oceanography and meteorology is of an order different from that between it and geology or biology, because meteorologic

More information

A modeling study of the North Pacific shallow overturning circulation. Takao Kawasaki, H. Hasumi, 2 M. Kurogi

A modeling study of the North Pacific shallow overturning circulation. Takao Kawasaki, H. Hasumi, 2 M. Kurogi PICES 2011 Annual Meeting, Khabarovsk, Russia A modeling study of the North Pacific shallow overturning circulation 1 Takao Kawasaki, H. Hasumi, 2 M. Kurogi 1 Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, University

More information

Unseasonable weather conditions in Japan in August 2014

Unseasonable weather conditions in Japan in August 2014 Unseasonable weather conditions in Japan in August 2014 Summary of analysis by the TCC Advisory Panel on Extreme Climatic Events In an extraordinary session held at the Japan Meteorological Agency on 3

More information

Hydrographic Structure and Transport of Intermediate Water in the Kuroshio Region off the Boso Peninsula, Japan

Hydrographic Structure and Transport of Intermediate Water in the Kuroshio Region off the Boso Peninsula, Japan Journal of Oceanography, Vol. 60, pp. 487 to 503, 2004 Hydrographic Structure and Transport of Intermediate Water in the Kuroshio Region off the Boso Peninsula, Japan KOSEI KOMATSU 1 *, YUTAKA HIROE 1,

More information

Surface Circulation. Key Ideas

Surface Circulation. Key Ideas Surface Circulation The westerlies and the trade winds are two of the winds that drive the ocean s surface currents. 1 Key Ideas Ocean water circulates in currents. Surface currents are caused mainly by

More information

Oceanographic Conditions in the Gulf of St. Lawrence during 1999

Oceanographic Conditions in the Gulf of St. Lawrence during 1999 Fisheries and Oceans Science Pêches et Océans Sciences DFO Science Laurentian Region Stock Status Report G4-01 (2000) Researh vessel CCGS Martha L. Black Oceanographic Conditions in the Gulf of St. Lawrence

More information

Ocean Circulation- PART- I: In Class. Must be done inclass, and turned in before you leave for credit.

Ocean Circulation- PART- I: In Class. Must be done inclass, and turned in before you leave for credit. Name: Section/ TA: Ocean Circulation- PART- I: In Class. Must be done inclass, and turned in before you leave for credit. Activity 1: The Sverdrup In our homes, we are used to calculating water volumes

More information

Chapter 6. Antarctic oceanography

Chapter 6. Antarctic oceanography Chapter 6 Antarctic oceanography The region of the world ocean bordering on Antarctica is unique in many respects. First of all, it is the only region where the flow of water can continue all around the

More information

Results of oceanographic analyses conducted under JARPA and possible evidence of environmental changes.

Results of oceanographic analyses conducted under JARPA and possible evidence of environmental changes. SC/D06/J30 Results of oceanographic analyses conducted under JARPA and possible evidence of environmental changes. Tomowo Watanabe*, Takashi Yabuki**, Toshio Suga**, Kimio Hanawa**, Koji Matsuoka*** and

More information

The feature of atmospheric circulation in the extremely warm winter 2006/2007

The feature of atmospheric circulation in the extremely warm winter 2006/2007 The feature of atmospheric circulation in the extremely warm winter 2006/2007 Hiroshi Hasegawa 1, Yayoi Harada 1, Hiroshi Nakamigawa 1, Atsushi Goto 1 1 Climate Prediction Division, Japan Meteorological

More information

Non-Seasonal SSTs of the Western Tropical North Pacific

Non-Seasonal SSTs of the Western Tropical North Pacific Natural Science, 2015, 7, 605-612 Published Online December 2015 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/ns http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ns.2015.713060 Non-Seasonal SSTs of the Western Tropical North Pacific

More information

Influence of the Seasonal Thermocline on the Intrusion of Kuroshio across the Continental Shelf Northeast of Taiwan

Influence of the Seasonal Thermocline on the Intrusion of Kuroshio across the Continental Shelf Northeast of Taiwan Journal of Oceanography Vol. 5, pp. 691 to 711. 1994 Influence of the Seasonal Thermocline on the Intrusion of Kuroshio across the Continental Shelf Northeast of Taiwan CHING-SHENG CHERN and Joe WANO Institute

More information

Water mass formation, subduction, and the oceanic heat budget

Water mass formation, subduction, and the oceanic heat budget Chapter 5 Water mass formation, subduction, and the oceanic heat budget In the first four chapters we developed the concept of Ekman pumping, Rossby wave propagation, and the Sverdrup circulation as the

More information

Distribution and transport variations of source waters for North Pacific Intermediate Water formation revealed by multiple tracer analysis

Distribution and transport variations of source waters for North Pacific Intermediate Water formation revealed by multiple tracer analysis Distribution and transport variations of source waters for North Pacific Intermediate Water formation revealed by multiple tracer analysis Yugo Shimizu 1, Lynne D. Talley 2, Shin-ichi Ito 1, and Miyuki

More information

Page 1 of 5 Home research global climate enso effects Research Effects of El Niño on world weather Precipitation Temperature Tropical Cyclones El Niño affects the weather in large parts of the world. The

More information

Sub-Arctic Gyre Experiment in the North Pacific Ocean (SAGE)

Sub-Arctic Gyre Experiment in the North Pacific Ocean (SAGE) Sub-Arctic Gyre Experiment in the North Pacific Ocean (SAGE) Nobuo Suginohara Center for Climate System Research University of Tokyo Meguro-Ku, Tokyo 153-8904, JAPAN E-mail: nobuo@ccsr.u-tokyo.ac.jp Dr.

More information

Absolute Volume Transports of the Oyashio Referred to Moored Current Meter Data Crossing the OICE

Absolute Volume Transports of the Oyashio Referred to Moored Current Meter Data Crossing the OICE Journal of Oceanography, Vol. 60, pp. 397 to 409, 2004 Absolute Volume Transports of the Oyashio Referred to Moored Current Meter Data Crossing the OICE KAZUYUKI UEHARA *, SHI-ICHI ITO 2, HIDEO MIYAKE

More information

Variability of Upper Ocean Heat Balance in the Shikoku Basin during the Ocean Mixed Layer Experiment (OMLET)

Variability of Upper Ocean Heat Balance in the Shikoku Basin during the Ocean Mixed Layer Experiment (OMLET) Journal of Oceanography, Vol. 59, pp. 619 to 627, 2003 Variability of Upper Ocean Heat Balance in the Shikoku Basin during the Ocean Mixed Layer Experiment (OMLET) HIROTAKA OTOBE 1 *, KEISUKE TAIRA 2,

More information

APPENDIX B PHYSICAL BASELINE STUDY: NORTHEAST BAFFIN BAY 1

APPENDIX B PHYSICAL BASELINE STUDY: NORTHEAST BAFFIN BAY 1 APPENDIX B PHYSICAL BASELINE STUDY: NORTHEAST BAFFIN BAY 1 1 By David B. Fissel, Mar Martínez de Saavedra Álvarez, and Randy C. Kerr, ASL Environmental Sciences Inc. (Feb. 2012) West Greenland Seismic

More information

Proposed draft marine bioregions

Proposed draft marine bioregions Proposed draft marine bioregions 1. PROPOSED PELAGIC BIOREGIONS Map 1. Proposed draft pelagic bioregions List of proposed pelagic bioregions: 1. Agulhas Current 2. Antarctic 3. Antarctic Polar Front 4.

More information

Water mass transport associated with the oceanic fronts in the northwestern Pacific Ocean HIDEYUKI NAKANO (METEOROLOGICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE)

Water mass transport associated with the oceanic fronts in the northwestern Pacific Ocean HIDEYUKI NAKANO (METEOROLOGICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE) Water mass transport associated with the oceanic fronts in the northwestern Pacific Ocean HIDEYUKI NAKANO (METEOROLOGICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE) How is the Kuroshio-origin water distributed in the subtropical

More information

The Kuroshio East of Taiwan and in the East China Sea and the Currents East of Ryukyu Islands during Early Summer of 1996

The Kuroshio East of Taiwan and in the East China Sea and the Currents East of Ryukyu Islands during Early Summer of 1996 Journal of Oceanography, Vol. 54, pp. 217 to 226. 1998 The Kuroshio East of Taiwan and in the East China Sea and the Currents East of Ryukyu Islands during Early Summer of 1996 YAOCHU YUAN 1, ARATA KANEKO

More information

Fronts in November 1998 Storm

Fronts in November 1998 Storm Fronts in November 1998 Storm Much of the significant weather observed in association with extratropical storms tends to be concentrated within narrow bands called frontal zones. Fronts in November 1998

More information

Hiromichi Igarashi 1,2, Y. Ishikawa 1, T. Wakamatsu 1, Y. Tanaka 1, M. Kamachi 1,3, N. Usui 3, M. Sakai 4, S. Saitoh 2 and Y.

Hiromichi Igarashi 1,2, Y. Ishikawa 1, T. Wakamatsu 1, Y. Tanaka 1, M. Kamachi 1,3, N. Usui 3, M. Sakai 4, S. Saitoh 2 and Y. PICES2015,Qingdao Oct.20,2015 Relationships between ocean conditions and interannual variability of habitat suitability index (HSI) distribution for neon flying squid in central North Pacific examined

More information

A Synthesis of Results from the Norwegian ESSAS (N-ESSAS) Project

A Synthesis of Results from the Norwegian ESSAS (N-ESSAS) Project A Synthesis of Results from the Norwegian ESSAS (N-ESSAS) Project Ken Drinkwater Institute of Marine Research Bergen, Norway ken.drinkwater@imr.no ESSAS has several formally recognized national research

More information

Currents & Gyres Notes

Currents & Gyres Notes Currents & Gyres Notes Current A river of water flowing in the ocean. 2 Types of Currents Surface Currents wind-driven currents that occur in the top 100m or less Deep Currents density-driven currents

More information

Anticyclonic Eddy Revealing Low Sea Surface Temperature in the Sea South of Japan: Case Study of the Eddy Observed in

Anticyclonic Eddy Revealing Low Sea Surface Temperature in the Sea South of Japan: Case Study of the Eddy Observed in Journal of Oceanography, Vol. 6, pp. 663 to 671, 4 Anticyclonic Eddy Revealing Low Sea Surface Temperature in the Sea South of Japan: Case Study of the Eddy Observed in 1999 KOHTARO HOSODA 1 * and KIMIO

More information

Some Features of Winter Convection in the Japan Sea

Some Features of Winter Convection in the Japan Sea Journal of Oceanography Vol. 51, pp. 61 to 73. 1995 Some Features of Winter Convection in the Japan Sea YOUNG-HO SEUNG 1 and JONG-HWAN YOON 2 1 Dept. of Oceanography, Inha Univ., Korea 2 RIAM, Kyushu Univ.,

More information

Weather and Climate Summary and Forecast April 2018 Report

Weather and Climate Summary and Forecast April 2018 Report Weather and Climate Summary and Forecast April 2018 Report Gregory V. Jones Linfield College April 4, 2018 Summary: A near Miracle March played out bringing cooler and wetter conditions to the majority

More information

Zooplankton of the Okhotsk Sea: A Review of Russian Studies 19

Zooplankton of the Okhotsk Sea: A Review of Russian Studies 19 Zooplankton of the Okhotsk Sea: A Review of Russian Studies 19 Figure 18. Distribution of zooplankton biomass (mg m 3 ) near the western coast of Kamchatka in the 0-50 m layer: 1 = 100-500, 2 = 500-1,000,

More information

SIO 210 Final Exam December 10, :30 2:30 NTV 330 No books, no notes. Calculators can be used.

SIO 210 Final Exam December 10, :30 2:30 NTV 330 No books, no notes. Calculators can be used. SIO 210 Final Exam December 10, 2003 11:30 2:30 NTV 330 No books, no notes. Calculators can be used. There are three sections to the exam: multiple choice, short answer, and long problems. Points are given

More information

Global Wind Patterns

Global Wind Patterns Name: Earth Science: Date: Period: Global Wind Patterns 1. Which factor causes global wind patterns? a. changes in the distance between Earth and the Moon b. unequal heating of Earth s surface by the Sun

More information

Non-linear patterns of eddy kinetic energy in the Japan/East Sea

Non-linear patterns of eddy kinetic energy in the Japan/East Sea Non-linear patterns of eddy kinetic energy in the Japan/East Sea O.O. Trusenkova, D.D. Kaplunenko, S.Yu. Ladychenko, V.B. Lobanov V.I.Il ichev Pacific Oceanological Institute, FEB RAS Vladivostok, Russia

More information

isopycnal outcrop w < 0 (downwelling), v < 0 L.I. V. P.

isopycnal outcrop w < 0 (downwelling), v < 0 L.I. V. P. Ocean 423 Vertical circulation 1 When we are thinking about how the density, temperature and salinity structure is set in the ocean, there are different processes at work depending on where in the water

More information

State of the Ocean 2003: Physical Oceanographic Conditions in the Gulf of St. Lawrence

State of the Ocean 2003: Physical Oceanographic Conditions in the Gulf of St. Lawrence Ecosystem Status Report 24/2 Oceanographic sampling gear State of the Ocean 23: Physical Oceanographic Conditions in the Gulf of St. Lawrence Background The physical oceanographic environment influences

More information

Weather and Climate Summary and Forecast February 2018 Report

Weather and Climate Summary and Forecast February 2018 Report Weather and Climate Summary and Forecast February 2018 Report Gregory V. Jones Linfield College February 5, 2018 Summary: For the majority of the month of January the persistent ridge of high pressure

More information

Science 1206 SAMPLE Test ( Weather Dynamics)

Science 1206 SAMPLE Test ( Weather Dynamics) Science 1206 SAMPLE Test ( Weather Dynamics) Name:. Part A: Multiple Choice (60%) Shade the letter of the best answer on the Scantron sheet provided. 1. Which term refers to the current atmospheric conditions?

More information

Regional Oceanography: an Introduction

Regional Oceanography: an Introduction 138 Regional Oceanography: an Introduction A characteristic feature of the South Pacific Ocean is the existence of a second region of wind convergence in the tropics known as the South Pacific Convergence

More information

RECENT STUDIES OF THE SEA OF OKHOTSK

RECENT STUDIES OF THE SEA OF OKHOTSK RECENT STUDIES OF THE SEA OF OKHOTSK Masaaki Wakatsuchi Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan ABSTRACT We recently have had a Japan-Russia-United States International

More information

CHAPTER 9 ATMOSPHERE S PLANETARY CIRCULATION MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

CHAPTER 9 ATMOSPHERE S PLANETARY CIRCULATION MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS CHAPTER 9 ATMOSPHERE S PLANETARY CIRCULATION MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS 1. Viewed from above in the Northern Hemisphere, surface winds about a subtropical high blow a. clockwise and inward. b. counterclockwise.

More information

Title. Author(s)Minobe, Shoshiro. Issue Date Doc URL. Type. Note. File Information. Updated Assessments of the 1998/99 Climate Change ov

Title. Author(s)Minobe, Shoshiro. Issue Date Doc URL. Type. Note. File Information. Updated Assessments of the 1998/99 Climate Change ov Title Updated Assessments of the 998/99 Climate Change ov Author(s)Minobe, Shoshiro Issue Date 24 Doc URL http://hdl.handle.net/25/3853 Type proceedings Note International Symposium on "Dawn of a New Natural

More information

Ocean surface circulation

Ocean surface circulation Ocean surface circulation Recall from Last Time The three drivers of atmospheric circulation we discussed: Differential heating Pressure gradients Earth s rotation (Coriolis) Last two show up as direct

More information

Depth Distribution of the Subtropical Gyre in the North Pacific

Depth Distribution of the Subtropical Gyre in the North Pacific Journal of Oceanography, Vol. 58, pp. 525 to 529, 2002 Short Contribution Depth Distribution of the Subtropical Gyre in the North Pacific TANGDONG QU* International Pacific Research Center, SOEST, University

More information

Characteristics of the Satellite-Derived Sea Surface Temperature in the Oceans around Japan

Characteristics of the Satellite-Derived Sea Surface Temperature in the Oceans around Japan Journal of Oceanography, Vol. 53, pp. 161 to 172. 1997 Characteristics of the Satellite-Derived Sea Surface Temperature in the Oceans around Japan YOSHIMI KAWAI and HIROSHI KAWAMURA Center for Atmospheric

More information

Climate Variability Studies in the Ocean

Climate Variability Studies in the Ocean Climate Variability Studies in the Ocean Topic 1. Long-term variations of vertical profiles of nutrients in the western North Pacific Topic 2. Biogeochemical processes related to ocean carbon cycling:

More information

GEOGRAPHY OCEAN TYPES OF OCEANS Economics Importance of Oceans to Man Relief of the ocean floor Continental Shelf Importance of Continental Shelf

GEOGRAPHY OCEAN TYPES OF OCEANS Economics Importance of Oceans to Man Relief of the ocean floor Continental Shelf Importance of Continental Shelf GEOGRAPHY OCEAN The oceans and seas occupy about 71 per cent of the total earth surface which means that about 29 percent of the earth s surface is occupied by the land. The study of the oceans. The water

More information

Thermohaline Staircases in the Warm-Core Ring off Cape Erimo, Hokkaido and Their Fluxes Due to Salt Finger

Thermohaline Staircases in the Warm-Core Ring off Cape Erimo, Hokkaido and Their Fluxes Due to Salt Finger Journal of Oceanography Vol. 51, pp. 99 to 109. 1995 Thermohaline Staircases in the Warm-Core Ring off Cape Erimo, Hokkaido and Their Fluxes Due to Salt Finger HIDEO MIYAKE, SEIJI SASAKI, HIDEKAZU YAMAGUCHI,

More information

Climatic Conditions Around Greenland 1993

Climatic Conditions Around Greenland 1993 NFO Sci. Coun. Studies, 22: 43 49 Climatic Conditions round Greenland 1993 M. Stein Institut für Seefischerei, Palmaille 9, D 22767 Hamburg Federal Republic of Germany bstract ir temperature anomalies

More information

Water Stratification under Wave Influence in the Gulf of Thailand

Water Stratification under Wave Influence in the Gulf of Thailand Water Stratification under Wave Influence in the Gulf of Thailand Pongdanai Pithayamaythakul and Pramot Sojisuporn Department of Marine Science, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

More information

Variation of the southward interior flow of the North Pacific subtropical

Variation of the southward interior flow of the North Pacific subtropical 1 Submitted to Journal of Oceanography 2 3 Variation of the southward interior flow of the North Pacific subtropical gyre, as revealed by a repeat hydrographic survey 4 5 Keywords: North Pacific, Subtropical

More information

A role of eddies in formation and transport of North Pacific Subtropical Mode Water

A role of eddies in formation and transport of North Pacific Subtropical Mode Water 1 A role of eddies in formation and transport of North Pacific Subtropical Mode Water Hiroki Uehara 1, Toshio Suga 1,2, Kimio Hanawa 1 and Nobuyuki Shikama 2 1 Department of Geophysics, Graduate School

More information

Weather and Climate Summary and Forecast January 2018 Report

Weather and Climate Summary and Forecast January 2018 Report Weather and Climate Summary and Forecast January 2018 Report Gregory V. Jones Linfield College January 5, 2018 Summary: A persistent ridge of high pressure over the west in December produced strong inversions

More information

North Pacific Climate Overview N. Bond (UW/JISAO), J. Overland (NOAA/PMEL) Contact: Last updated: September 2008

North Pacific Climate Overview N. Bond (UW/JISAO), J. Overland (NOAA/PMEL) Contact: Last updated: September 2008 North Pacific Climate Overview N. Bond (UW/JISAO), J. Overland (NOAA/PMEL) Contact: Nicholas.Bond@noaa.gov Last updated: September 2008 Summary. The North Pacific atmosphere-ocean system from fall 2007

More information

What makes the Arctic hot?

What makes the Arctic hot? 1/3 total USA UN Environ Prog What makes the Arctic hot? Local communities subsistence Arctic Shipping Routes? Decreasing Ice cover Sept 2007 -ice extent (Pink=1979-2000 mean min) Source: NSIDC Oil/Gas

More information

Homework 9: Hurricane Forecasts (adapted from Pipkin et al.)

Homework 9: Hurricane Forecasts (adapted from Pipkin et al.) November 2010 MAR 110 HW9 Hurricane Forecasts 1 Homework 9: Hurricane Forecasts (adapted from Pipkin et al.) Movement of Hurricanes The advance of a tropical storm or hurricane is controlled by the prevailing

More information

NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE A Quasi-Stationary Appearance of 30 to 40 Day Period in the Cloudiness Fluctuations during the Summer Monsoon over India

NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE A Quasi-Stationary Appearance of 30 to 40 Day Period in the Cloudiness Fluctuations during the Summer Monsoon over India June 1980 T. Yasunari 225 NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE A Quasi-Stationary Appearance of 30 to 40 Day Period in the Cloudiness Fluctuations during the Summer Monsoon over India By Tetsuzo Yasunari The Center

More information

Characteristics of Sea Surface Circulation and Eddy Field in the South China Sea Revealed by Satellite Altimetric Data

Characteristics of Sea Surface Circulation and Eddy Field in the South China Sea Revealed by Satellite Altimetric Data Journal of Oceanography, Vol. 56, pp. 331 to 344, 2000 Characteristics of Sea Surface Circulation and Eddy Field in the South China Sea Revealed by Satellite Altimetric Data AKIHIKO MORIMOTO 1 *, KOICHI

More information

Climate Changes due to Natural Processes

Climate Changes due to Natural Processes Climate Changes due to Natural Processes 2.6.2a Summarize natural processes that can and have affected global climate (particularly El Niño/La Niña, volcanic eruptions, sunspots, shifts in Earth's orbit,

More information

Ocean cycles and climate ENSO, PDO, AMO, AO

Ocean cycles and climate ENSO, PDO, AMO, AO Ocean cycles and climate ENSO, PDO, AMO, AO 3 2.5 2 enso-index 1.5 1 0.5 0-0.5-1 enso 3.4 -index - 1996 to 1999-1.5 1996 1997 1998 1999 Bob Tisdale Bob Tisdale Bob Tisdale ENSO mechanisms animation http://esminfo.prenhall.com/science/geoanimations/animations/26_ninonina.html

More information

SPATIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SURFACE CIRCULATION AND WAVE CLIMATE USING HIGH-FREQUENCY RADAR

SPATIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SURFACE CIRCULATION AND WAVE CLIMATE USING HIGH-FREQUENCY RADAR SPATIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SURFACE CIRCULATION AND WAVE CLIMATE USING HIGH-FREQUENCY RADAR Apisit Kongprom,Siriluk Prukpitikul, Varatip Buakaew, Watchara Kesdech, and Teerawat Suwanlertcharoen Geo-Informatics

More information

Results of oceanographic analyses conducted under JARPA and JARPAII and possible evidence of environmental changes

Results of oceanographic analyses conducted under JARPA and JARPAII and possible evidence of environmental changes Results of oceanographic analyses conducted under JARPA and JARPAII and possible evidence of environmental changes Tomowo WATANABE 1, MAKOTO OKAZAKI 1 AND KOJI MATSUOKA 2 1 National Research Institute

More information

2004 State of the Ocean: Physical Oceanographic Conditions in the Newfoundland and Labrador Region

2004 State of the Ocean: Physical Oceanographic Conditions in the Newfoundland and Labrador Region Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat Science Advisory Report 25/18 Research vessel CCGS Teleost 24 State of the Ocean: Physical Oceanographic Conditions in the Newfoundland and Labrador Region Background

More information

Impacts of the April 2013 Mean trough over central North America

Impacts of the April 2013 Mean trough over central North America Impacts of the April 2013 Mean trough over central North America By Richard H. Grumm National Weather Service State College, PA Abstract: The mean 500 hpa flow over North America featured a trough over

More information

MAR 110 LECTURE #10 The Oceanic Conveyor Belt Oceanic Thermohaline Circulation

MAR 110 LECTURE #10 The Oceanic Conveyor Belt Oceanic Thermohaline Circulation 1 MAR 110 LECTURE #10 The Oceanic Conveyor Belt Oceanic Thermohaline Circulation Ocean Climate Temperature Zones The pattern of approximately parallel oceanic surface isotherms (lines of constant temperature)

More information

Wintertime shoaling of oceanic surface mixed layer

Wintertime shoaling of oceanic surface mixed layer GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 30, NO. 22, 2152, doi:10.1029/2003gl018511, 2003 Wintertime shoaling of oceanic surface mixed layer Emiri Takeuchi and Ichiro Yasuda Department of Earth and Planetary

More information

John Steffen and Mark A. Bourassa

John Steffen and Mark A. Bourassa John Steffen and Mark A. Bourassa Funding by NASA Climate Data Records and NASA Ocean Vector Winds Science Team Florida State University Changes in surface winds due to SST gradients are poorly modeled

More information

Subsurface Water Masses in the Central North Pacific Transition Region: The Repeat Section along the 180 Meridian

Subsurface Water Masses in the Central North Pacific Transition Region: The Repeat Section along the 180 Meridian Journal of Oceanography, Vol. 59, pp. 435 to 444, 2003 Subsurface Water Masses in the Central North Pacific Transition Region: The Repeat Section along the 180 Meridian TOSHIO SUGA*, KAZUNORI MOTOKI and

More information

Eurasian Snow Cover Variability and Links with Stratosphere-Troposphere Coupling and Their Potential Use in Seasonal to Decadal Climate Predictions

Eurasian Snow Cover Variability and Links with Stratosphere-Troposphere Coupling and Their Potential Use in Seasonal to Decadal Climate Predictions US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Test Bed Joint Seminar Series NCEP, Camp Springs, Maryland, 22 June 2011 Eurasian Snow Cover Variability and Links with Stratosphere-Troposphere

More information

Weather and Climate Summary and Forecast March 2018 Report

Weather and Climate Summary and Forecast March 2018 Report Weather and Climate Summary and Forecast March 2018 Report Gregory V. Jones Linfield College March 7, 2018 Summary: The ridge pattern that brought drier and warmer conditions from December through most

More information

Synchronicity of climate driven regime shifts among the East Asian Marginal Sea waters and major fish species

Synchronicity of climate driven regime shifts among the East Asian Marginal Sea waters and major fish species Synchronicity of climate driven regime shifts among the East Asian Marginal Sea waters and major fish species SM Mustafizur Rahman 1, Chung Il Lee 2 1 Research Institute for Dok-do and Ulleung-do, Kyungpook

More information

UNCLASSIFIED AD NUMBER LIMITATION CHANGES

UNCLASSIFIED AD NUMBER LIMITATION CHANGES TO: UNCLASSIFIED AD NUMBER AD269590 LIMITATION CHANGES Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. FROM: Distribution authorized to U.S. Gov't. agencies and their contractors; Administrative/Operational

More information