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Numerical experiment on the circulation in the Japan Sea

Part II. Influence of seasonal variations in atmospheric conditions on the Tsushima current

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Abstract

Seasonal variations in the circulation in the Japan Sea are investigated numerically by using a model basin of uniform depth with three openings, one inflow opening corresponding to the Tsushima Straits and two outflow openings corresponding to the Tsugaru- and Sôya Straits.

From winter to spring, warm water supplied through the inflow opening flows northward along the Korean coast as a western boundary current corresponding to the East Korean Warm Current. From summer to autumn, the warm water splits into two branches; one flows northward along the Korean coast as from winter to spring and the other flows along the Japanese coast as a density-driven boundary current due to the large density difference between the inflowing warm and low salinity water and the interior water which was cooled during winter.

The lack of a boundary current along the Japanese coast from winter to spring results in a large discrepancy between calculated and observed salinity field distributions. Therefore, the nearshore branch of the Tsushima Current can not be explained only as a density-driven boundary current.

The seasonal variation of atmospheric conditions plays an important role in the formation of the Proper Water and the Polar Front in the Japan Sea.

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  1. Geophysical Institute, Faculty of Science, University of Tokyo, Bunkyô-ku, 113, Tokyo, Japan

    Jong-Hwan Yoon

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  1. Jong-Hwan Yoon
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Yoon, JH. Numerical experiment on the circulation in the Japan Sea. Journal of the Oceanographical Society of Japan 38, 81–94 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02110294

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02110294

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