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On the internal waves and turbulent mixing generated by the flow-topography interaction in the Kuroshio region

Research Project

Project/Area Number 23KF0056
Research Category

Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows

Allocation TypeMulti-year Fund
Section外国
Review Section Basic Section 17020:Atmospheric and hydrospheric sciences-related
Research InstitutionEhime University

Principal Investigator

郭 新宇  愛媛大学, 沿岸環境科学研究センター, 教授 (10322273)

Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) WANG SHUYA  愛媛大学, 沿岸環境科学研究センター, 外国人特別研究員
Project Period (FY) 2023-04-25 – 2025-03-31
Project Status Discontinued (Fiscal Year 2023)
Budget Amount *help
¥2,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,000,000)
Fiscal Year 2024: ¥1,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000)
Fiscal Year 2023: ¥1,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000)
Keywordsトカラ海峡 / 黒潮 / 内部潮汐 / 乱流混合 / 内部波
Outline of Research at the Start

Turbulent mixing plays an important role in the ocean because it considerably affects climate and ecosystems. However, the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. This study focuses on the Kuroshio region where intense flow-topography interaction occurs. By combining numerical modeling and observations, we intend to clarify the mechanisms responsible for how the flow-topography interaction generates internal waves and mixing. The outcomes will provide essential implications on mixing parameterizations, which is beneficial to predicting the long-term variation of climate.

Outline of Annual Research Achievements

By conducting numerical simulations and analyzing reanalysis data from OGCM, we explore internal waves in the Tokara Strait where the Kuroshio and complex bottom topographies coexist. We reveal that semidiurnal internal tides make a major contribution to energy dissipation there. We also investigated the interannual variation of semidiurnal internal tidal energy conversion and found that it is mainly influenced by the forcing barotropic tides rather than by the Kuroshio. Semidiurnal internal tides disintegrate via parametric subharmonic instability (PSI) which generates high-wavenumber near-inertial waves, therefore enhancing mixing. Although the Kuroshio suppresses PSI along its paths, energy dissipation induced by PSI is much higher than that caused only by the Kuroshio itself (Wang et al., submitted to JGR: Oceans). For comparison, we also investigate the internal tides in a shelf sea south of Japan. The internal tides generation there is affected by both stratification and Kuroshio variations. As internal tides radiate away from their generation sites, they are refracted by the Kuroshio due to spatially varying stratification and background currents (Wang et al., 2023, Progress in Oceanography).

Current Status of Research Progress
Current Status of Research Progress

2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.

Reason

This project went smoothly during the first fiscal year due to the following reasons. First, the PD and host professor work closely to achieve the goal of this project. We have regular discussions and group meetings to share and interpret the results together. Second, our laboratory is equipped with high-performance computers and workstations, enabling the numerical simulation and data analyses as planned. Third, we have established collaborations with other researchers from institutes in Japan (e.g., JAMSTEC, Kagoshima University, and Kyushu University). These researchers generously share with us their observational data and model outputs, which accelerates our progress. They also provide insightful comments and suggestions for this project. Last but not least, we also join academic meetings frequently to present our results and communicate with other researchers, and the feedback from them indeed improves this project.

Strategy for Future Research Activity

In addition to internal tides, the Kuroshio-topography interaction also generates submesoscale processes including vortices and internal lee waves, which are also capable of driving mixing. By analyzing the data from high-resolution (~1 km) OGCM and performing additional simulations, we will explore the characteristics and statistical features of these submesoscale processes and their relation to the Kuroshio. Especially, we will focus on the energy cascade from the Kuroshio to eddies/waves as well as the energy budget. Furthermore, we are going to reveal the interaction between eddies and internal waves and indicate the role of wave-current interaction in energy dissipation. To achieve these goals, we have obtained high-resolution model outputs via collaborating with researchers from JAMSTEC. We will also configure our model with a much higher resolution to get insight into the dissipation of eddies and waves. By combining modeling results and theoretical interpretation, we intend to identify the dominant process driving turbulent mixing in the study region.

Report

(1 results)
  • 2023 Research-status Report
  • Research Products

    (6 results)

All 2024 2023

All Journal Article (2 results) (of which Int'l Joint Research: 2 results,  Peer Reviewed: 2 results,  Open Access: 1 results) Presentation (4 results) (of which Int'l Joint Research: 1 results)

  • [Journal Article] Semidiurnal Internal Tides in a Shelf Sea South of Japan: Characteristics, Energetics, and Temporal variations2024

    • Author(s)
      Wang Shuya、Guo Xinyu、Morimoto Akihiko、Cao Anzhou、Tsutsumi Eisuke、Miyazawa Yasumasa、Varlamov Sergey M.
    • Journal Title

      Progress in Oceanography

      Volume: 222 Pages: 103229-103229

    • DOI

      10.1016/j.pocean.2024.103229

    • Related Report
      2023 Research-status Report
    • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
  • [Journal Article] Modal content of typhoon-induced near-inertial waves around the East China Sea2023

    • Author(s)
      Cao Anzhou、Wang Shuya、Morimoto Akihiko、Takikawa Tetsutaro、Guo Xinyu
    • Journal Title

      Continental Shelf Research

      Volume: 264 Pages: 105055-105055

    • DOI

      10.1016/j.csr.2023.105055

    • Related Report
      2023 Research-status Report
    • Peer Reviewed / Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] 1.Sea surface signature of incoherent semidiurnal internal tides in the Northern Pacific: variability and mechanism2023

    • Author(s)
      Shuya Wang, Xinyu Guo, Yasumasa Miyazawa, Ryo Furue, Sergey M. Varlamov
    • Organizer
      海洋乱流に関する研究集会
    • Related Report
      2023 Research-status Report
  • [Presentation] PSI of M2 internal tides in the Tokara Strait2023

    • Author(s)
      Shuya Wang, Xinyu Guo, Anzhou Cao, Eisuke Tsutsumi, Xu Chen
    • Organizer
      The Oceanographic Society of Japan Fall Meeting
    • Related Report
      2023 Research-status Report
  • [Presentation] 3.Semidiurnal internal tides in the Tokara Strait: downscaling energy cascade via PSI Workshop on turbulent mixing in and around the Kuroshio2023

    • Author(s)
      Shuya Wang, Xinyu Guo, Anzhou Cao, Eisuke Tsutsumi, Xu Chen
    • Organizer
      Workshop on turbulent mixing in and around the Kuroshio
    • Related Report
      2023 Research-status Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] 4.Semidiurnal internal tides in the Bungo Channel: characteristics, energetics, and temporal variation2023

    • Author(s)
      Shuya Wang, Xinyu Guo, Akihiko Morimoto, Anzhou Cao, Eisuke Tsutsumi, Yasumasa Miyazawa, Sergey M. Varlamov
    • Organizer
      Japan Geoscience Union Meeting 2023
    • Related Report
      2023 Research-status Report

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Published: 2023-04-26   Modified: 2024-12-25  

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