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Spreading of river water in Suruga Bay

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Abstract

We have investigated the spreading of river water in Suruga Bay by performing numerical experiments and conducting field surveys with drifting buoys. There are clear seasonal variations in the large river discharges into the bay: increased discharge in the rainy summer season and decreased discharge in the dry winter season. The numerical model reproduces the main feature that has been observed in the actual sea: the river water extends gradually from the northwestern to the southeastern regions in the bay, especially in summer. The river water spreading is greatly influenced by the bottom topography of the bay: the Fuji River water spreads over a deep continental slope as a surface-advected plume and extends well offshore, since a large bulge (anticyclonic eddy at the river mouth) extends well offshore and effectively transports the river water offshore. On the other hand, the Oi River water tends to flow parallel to isobaths (along a coastline) on a shallow continental shelf as a bottomadvected plume. Moreover, the influences of seasonal variations in the stratification and a bay-scale, wind-driven circulation are also investigated. Trajectories of the drifting buoys, which were released around the Fuji River mouth, certainly suggest that the bulge exists there.

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Author notes

  1. Kiyoshi Tanaka

    Present address: JGC Corporation, Minato Mirai, Nishi-ku, Yokohama, 220-6001, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Advanced Marine Research, Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, Minamidai, Nakano-ku, Tokyo, 164-8639, Japan

    Kiyoshi Tanaka

  2. International Coastal Research Center, Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, Akahama, Otsuchi, Iwate, 028-1102, Japan

    Yutaka Michida

  3. Department of Marine Bioscience, Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, Minamidai, Nakano-ku, Tokyo, 164-8639, Japan

    Teruhisa Komatsu

  4. Department of Natural Environmental Studies, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba, 277-8583, Japan

    Kenji Ishigami

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  1. Kiyoshi Tanaka
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  3. Teruhisa Komatsu
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  4. Kenji Ishigami
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Correspondence to Kiyoshi Tanaka.

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Tanaka, K., Michida, Y., Komatsu, T. et al. Spreading of river water in Suruga Bay. J Oceanogr 65, 165–177 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10872-009-0016-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10872-009-0016-x

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