Sea level variations along the south coast of Japan and the large meander in the Kuroshio

Abstract

Sea level variations from 1974 through 1976 at 9 stations on the south coast of Japan (from west to east, Aburatsu, Tosa-shimizu, Muroto-misaki, Kushimoto, Uragami, Owase, Toba, Maisaka and Omaezaki) were analysed in relation to the large meander in the Kuroshio.From May to July in 1975, a small maximum in sea level variation was observed at every station west of Cape Shionomisaki from Aburatsu to Kushimoto. It propagated eastward along with the eastward propagation of a small meander in the Kuroshio until it reached Kushimoto, when the sea levels at Uragami and Owase started to rise sharply. This remarkable rise appeared at all stations in August when a large meander in the Kuroshio was established. The mean sea level at the stations east of Cape Shionomisaki from Uragami to Omaezaki rose by about 10 cm. The difference in sea level variations between the regions east and west of Cape Shionomisaki, which had been present before the rise, disappeared. A similar characteristic of sea level variation was also found in the generation stage of the large meander in 1959.The sea level variations along the south coast of Japan indicate that, prior to the generation of the large meander, the small meander in the Kuroshio was generated southeast of Kyushu and propagated eastward and that, just when this meander reached off Cape Shionomisakl, a large scale oceanic event covering over the whole region of the south coast of Japan occurred. This large scale event seems to be one of the necessary conditions for the generation of the large meander in the Kuroshio off Ensh0-nada.

Holocene reef-growth dynamics on Kodakara Island (29°N, 129°E) in the Northwest Pacific

“…8a) (Jian et al, 2000;Xiang et al, 2007). The sea surface height (SSH) difference around the KC has been reported around Japan within 1 m (e.g., Kawabe, 1980Kawabe, , 1989. Moreover, the KC's volume transport anomaly in the Tokara Strait is indicated by daily sea-level differences (Ichikawa, 2001).…”

Interannual correlations between sea level difference at the south coast of Japan and wind stress over the north pacific

“…This sea level difference is known to change in response to the Kuroshio path south of Enshu-nada, and is referred to as the "K-U index" in this paper. It is also known that the K-U index is extremely low when the Kuroshio takes the large meander path (Moriyasu, 1958(Moriyasu, , 1961Tsumura, 1963;Okada and Nishimoto, 1978;Kawabe, 1980a), and that the large meander path occurs with an average time interval …”

Can long‐term variation in catch of Japanese spiny lobsterPanulirus japonicusbe explained by larval supply through the Kuroshio Current?

“…The large meander and the non-large meander paths of the Kuroshio Current were defined according to Kawabe (1980): the large meander path accompanies a large cold eddy with a diameter of about 200 km off Enshu-nada Sea and Shionomisaki, whereas the non-large meander path is without the cold eddy. We estimated the large meander and the non-large meander paths of the Kuroshio Current for each year …”

“…43 non-large meander paths of the Kuroshio Current (Kawabe 1980). There were negative significant relationships for cluster B between KCI t and CI t+2 and between CI t+3 and CI t+4 , respectively, whereas positive significant relationships were detected for cluster A.…”