Dynamics of the Low-Frequency Variability of the Kuroshio Current System

9911268研究者提出了黑潮年代际变化的一个重要来源是黑潮与其南面惯性环流相互作用的假说。 他认为，这种相互作用是一种可能的机制之间的快速过渡的两个替代持久的平衡，其中一个黑潮路径是相对直的，因为它流经日本和其中一个，它开发了一个准静止的向南弯曲。 调查员建议测试这一假设与西北太平洋的简化数值模式，低垂直分辨率版本的MICOM。 特别是，他将检查的时变黑潮/惯性再循环系统的位涡预算。 还将进行实验，以测试再循环环流上的表面浮力通量对该环流演变的影响。有关的太平洋区域及其在北大西洋的动力对应区域是在热带以外看到的一些最大的海气热交换的地点。

9911268The investigator advances the hypothesis that an important source of decadal variability for the Kuroshio lies in the interaction of the Kuroshio with the inertial recirculation to its immediate south. He argues that this interaction is a possible mechanism for the rapid transitions between two alternative persistent equilibria, one in which the Kuroshio path is relatively straight as it flows past Japan and one in which it develops a quasistationary southward meander. The investigator proposes to test this hypothesis with a simplified numerical model of the north-west Pacific, a low vertical resolution version of MICOM. In particular, he will examine the potential vorticity budget of the time varying Kuroshio/inertial recirculation system. Experiments will also be made to test the influence of surface buoyancy fluxes over the recirculation gyre on the evolution of that gyre. The region of the Pacific concerned and its dynamical counterpart in the North Atlantic are the locations of some of the largest air-sea heat exchanges seen outside the tropics.