Numerical experiments on wind-driven circulations and associated transport processes in Suruga Bay

Abstract

The dynamics of the wind-driven circulations and surface transport processes in Suruga Bay have been examined by performing numerical experiments. While strong winds exist outside the bay, the winds inside the bays are greatly reduced, which generates a strong wind stress curl in winter and autumn. In particular, in winter, a strong positive curl region is located across the bay mouth, and a strong surface circulation with counterclockwise rotation is generated beneath it. The circulation is nearly geostrophic, but is not affected by the bottom topography in the deep bay. It is suggested that intense surface water exchange through the bay mouth occurs in winter, whereas it is not active in the other seasons when no significant vorticity is supplied on the bay mouth from the atmosphere. Moreover, we propose a hypothesis that the atmospheric wind stress curl will cause the frequent appearance of the counterclockwise circulation in winter in the real ocean.