TY - JOUR
T1 - Quasi-decadal variation in intensity of the western part of the winter subarctic SST front in the Western North Pacific
T2 - The influence of Kuroshio extension path state
AU - Sugimoto, Shusaku
AU - Kobayashi, Nakaba
AU - Hanawa, Kimio
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 American Meteorological Society.
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Variations of the subarctic front (SAF), which is extracted as a strong sea surface temperature (SST) gradient in the longitudinal band of 146°-152°E, were investigated over 30 winters (January-March) from 1982 to 2011, using high-spatial-resolution satellite-derived SST dataset and hydrographic observations. The SAF had little meridional movement in this longitudinal band, lying between 40° and 41°N throughout the analysis period. The SAF intensity had a dominant quasi-decadal time scale (about 8 yr); its intensity in the strong phase was up to about 50% higher than in the weak phase. The SAF intensity strongly reflected upperocean conditions in the Kuroshio-Oyashio Confluence (KOC) region just south of the SAF. In the strong SAF phase, large positive anomalies in both temperature and salinity were found in theKOCregion, not only at the sea surface but also below 300 m, and the water properties in the KOC region were those of the Kuroshio water. The warm, salty water in theKOCregion was supplied by mesoscale eddies, which detached northward from the Kuroshio Extension during the unstable state of the Kuroshio Extension path.
AB - Variations of the subarctic front (SAF), which is extracted as a strong sea surface temperature (SST) gradient in the longitudinal band of 146°-152°E, were investigated over 30 winters (January-March) from 1982 to 2011, using high-spatial-resolution satellite-derived SST dataset and hydrographic observations. The SAF had little meridional movement in this longitudinal band, lying between 40° and 41°N throughout the analysis period. The SAF intensity had a dominant quasi-decadal time scale (about 8 yr); its intensity in the strong phase was up to about 50% higher than in the weak phase. The SAF intensity strongly reflected upperocean conditions in the Kuroshio-Oyashio Confluence (KOC) region just south of the SAF. In the strong SAF phase, large positive anomalies in both temperature and salinity were found in theKOCregion, not only at the sea surface but also below 300 m, and the water properties in the KOC region were those of the Kuroshio water. The warm, salty water in theKOCregion was supplied by mesoscale eddies, which detached northward from the Kuroshio Extension during the unstable state of the Kuroshio Extension path.
KW - Atmosphere-ocean interaction
KW - Circulation/Dynamics
KW - Decadal variability
KW - Fronts
KW - Geographic location/entity
KW - North Pacific Ocean
KW - Physical Meteorology and Climatology
KW - Variability
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U2 - 10.1175/JPO-D-13-0265.1
DO - 10.1175/JPO-D-13-0265.1
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84910045195
VL - 44
SP - 2753
EP - 2762
JO - Journal of Physical Oceanography
JF - Journal of Physical Oceanography
SN - 0022-3670
IS - 10
ER -