Abstract
Characteristics of the Sôya Warm Current from Abashiri Bay to the area off the coast of the southern Kuril Islands are clarified by water mass analysis. The water flowing into the Okhotsk Sea as the Sôya Warm Current is divided into two: the Forerunner of the Sôya Warm Water (March to May) and the Sôya Warm Water (June to November). It is shown that in May the Sôya Warm Current flows in the subsurface layer (about 200–400m deep) in Abashiri Bay, and flows northeastward just off the coast of the Kuril Islands as a subsurface current reaching a region northwest of Etorofu Island by the end of May. The dissolved oxygen content is fairly effective in identifying the Forerunner of the Sôya Warm Water in the subsurface layer. The Sôya Warm Current shifts upwards to the surface layer in Abashiri Bay by early July, because the Sôya Warm Water with large thermosteric anomalyδ t begins to flow into the Okhotsk Sea in June. It is shown that, in general, the major portion of the Sôya Warm Current flows northeastward just off the coast of the Kuril Islands during the summer season, although a minor branch of the current flows northward in the area off the Shiretoko Peninsula, and another minor branch flows out to the Pacific Ocean through the Nemuro Straits.
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Takizawa, T. Characteristics of the Sôya Warm Current in the Okhotsk Sea. Journal of the Oceanographical Society of Japan 38, 281–292 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02114532
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02114532