Baroclinic circulation and its high frequency variability in Otsuchi Bay on the Sanriku ria coast, Japan

详细信息    查看全文

• 作者：Kiyoshi Tanaka ; Kousei Komatsu ; Sachihiko Itoh ; Daigo Yanagimoto…
• 关键词：Baroclinic circulation ; High frequency variability ; Ria coast ; Tide ; Hydrographic observation
• 刊名：Journal of Oceanography
• 出版年：2017
• 出版时间：February 2017
• 年：2017
• 卷：73
• 期：1
• 页码：25-38
• 全文大小：
• 刊物类别：Earth and Environmental Science
• 刊物主题：Oceanography; Freshwater & Marine Ecology;
• 出版者：Springer Japan
• ISSN：1573-868X
• 卷排序：73

文摘

Hydrographic observations were made in Otsuchi Bay on the Sanriku ria coast, Japan, to provide clear images of the baroclinic circulation extending over the bay together with the associated intrusion of lower-layer water (bottom water) from outside the bay. In summer, a prominent baroclinic circulation with flow speeds \({>} 0.1\ \text{ m }\ \text{ s }^{-1} \) extends over the greater part of the bay. A main pycnocline (thermocline), which separates the upper and lower layers, is located at a depth of 15–40 m in and around the bay. The direction of the lower-layer flow (inflow into and outflow from the bay) is opposite to that of the upper-layer flow, which are baroclinically coupled to each other. Moreover, with regard to the lower-layer flow, the inflow tends to occur mainly through the northwestern part of the bay mouth, whereas the outflow tends to occur mainly through the southeastern part. The inflow and outflow alternate on time scales of several to a few tens of hours, and the flow directions are sometimes related to the tidal ones, although the relationship is not applied persistently. In winter, the baroclinic circulation is considerably weaker than in summer, because the stratification breaks down.