Journal of Oceanography

, 67:503 | Cite as

Long-term variability of winter mixed layer depth and temperature along the Kuroshio jet in a high-resolution ocean general circulation model

Original Article
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Abstract

To explore the causes of the winter shallow mixed layer and high sea surface temperature (SST) along the strong Kuroshio jet from the East China Sea to the upstream Kuroshio extension (25.5°N–150°E) during 1988–1994 when the Japanese sardine stocks collapsed, high-resolution ocean general circulation model (OGCM) hindcast data are analyzed with a bulk mixed layer model which traces particles at the mixed layer base. The shallow mixed layer and high SST along the Kuroshio jet are mainly caused by the acceleration of the Kuroshio current velocity and the reduction of the surface cooling. Because the acceleration reduces the time during which the mixed layer is exposed to wintertime cooling, deepening and cooling of the winter mixed layer are restricted. The weaker surface cooling due to less severe meteorological forcing also causes the shallow mixed layer and the high SST. The impact of the strong heat transport along the Kuroshio extends to the southern recirculation gyre of the Kuroshio/Kuroshio extension regions; previous indications that the Japanese sardine recruitment is correlated with the winter SST and the mixed layer depth (MLD) in the Kuroshio extension recirculation region could be related to the velocity, SST, and MLD near the Kuroshio axis which also could affect the variability of North Pacific subtropical water.

Keywords

Mixed layer depth SST Kuroshio Kuroshio extension Japanese sardine North Pacific subtropical mode water 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

The present paper is a part of Ph.D. thesis (Nishikawa 2010; Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo). Authors thank Profs. E. Oka, Y. Watanabe, H. Nakamura, M. Uematsu, and K. Komatsu for their useful comments. Authors are also grateful to Drs. Y. Sasai and H. Sasaki for providing the OFES data and for useful advice throughout the study. This study is partially supported by KAKENHI#20221002 and SUPRFISH.

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Copyright information

© The Oceanographic Society of Japan and Springer 2011

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Atmosphere and Ocean Research InstituteThe University of TokyoKashiwaJapan

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