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Balance of Volume Transports between Horizontal Circulation and Meridional Overturn in the North Pacific Subarctic Region

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Abstract

Horizontal and meridional volume transports on timescales from intra-seasonal to interannual in the North Pacific subarctic region were investigated using a reanalysis dataset for 1993–2001 that was constructed from an assimilation of the TOPEX altimeter and in situ data into an eddy-permitting North Pacific ocean general circulation model. The barotropic flow is excited along east of the Emperor Seamounts by the western intensification dynamics. The volume transport of this flow compensates for that across the interior region east of the Seamounts below the summit depth of the Seamounts. The Oyashio, which is also considered as a compensation flow for the transport in the whole interior region, includes baroclinic as well as barotropic components. Baroclinic transports in the whole interior region exceed those in the western boundary region in the upper (200–1000 m) and lower (2000–5000 m) layers, and the total transport is northward (southward) in the upper (lower) layer. These excesses of the baroclinic transport are balanced by a vertical transport of the meridional overturn. The meridional overturn has a complementary relation to the basin-scale baroclinic circulation in the North Pacific subactic region.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Meteorological Research Institute, Nagamine, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0052, Japan

    Tsurane Kuragano & Masafumi Kamachi

  2. Office of Marine Prediction, Japan Meteorological Agency, Tokyo, 100-8122, Japan

    Tsurane Kuragano

Authors
  1. Tsurane Kuragano
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  2. Masafumi Kamachi
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Kuragano, T., Kamachi, M. Balance of Volume Transports between Horizontal Circulation and Meridional Overturn in the North Pacific Subarctic Region. Journal of Oceanography 60, 439–451 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JOCE.0000038060.64499.13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JOCE.0000038060.64499.13

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