Surface wind adjustment and its feedback to the ocean surface layers over the gyre boundary regions

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K05279
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Meteorology/Physical oceanography/Hydrology
• Research Institution: Hokkaido University
• Principal Investigator: TANIMOTO Youichi 北海道大学, 地球環境科学研究院, 教授 (00291568)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 海上風 / 循環境界 / 大気海洋相互作用

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Surface wind adjustment and its feedback to the ocean surface layers over the gyre boundary regions are examined. We found that the wind adjustment process in the extratropics acts as suppressed cooling via vertical mixing and entrainment changes. In the boundary region across the equatorial and subtropical gyres, the vorticity input to the ocean exhibits rich horizontal structures, owing to the horizontal wind shear and a meridional change in the Coriolis parameter. The forced ocean surface layers show the Rossby wave and its propagations, which is associated with the interannual variability for the El Nino-Southern Oscillation and with the decadal variations for the Indonesian Throughflow.

Free Research Field

気候力学