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

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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.