Direct measurements and diagnosis of mixed layer formation process in the inter-frontal zone between the Kuroshio Extension and the Subarctic Front.

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Water property in mixed layer during winter, which had been difficult to be measured because of rough sea conditions, were directly observed by a profiling buoy which is unreeled and reeled from an underwater winch set at 220 m depth in the in the inter-frontal zone between the Kuroshio Extension and the Subarctic Front. The mixed layer depth showed the maximum in April and became deeper than 220 m. When the mixed layer became deeper, both temperature and salinity increased. This result suggests that supply of warm and saltier water from the Kuroshio Extension through a quasi-steady jet are essential to the formation of the deep mixed layer.