The Seasonal Variability Of Japan Sea Thermohaline Structure And Circulation

This work investigates the seasonal variabilities of the Japan/East (JES) circulation using the (GDEM) climatological temperature and salinity dataset(public domain) on a 0.5 X0. 5 grid. The GDEM for the JES was built up on historical(1930-97)136, 509 temperature and 52,572 salinity profiles. A three-dimensional estimate of the absolute geostrophic velocity field was obtained from the GDEM temperature and salinity fields using the P - vector method. The seasonal variabilities of the thermohaline structure and the inverted currents such as the Subpolar Front, the salinity minimum and maximum in the Japan Sea Intermediate Water, and the Tsushima Warm Current and its bifurcation are identified. The climatological mean and seasonal variability of the current systems are well inverted, especially the Tsushima Warm Current and its bifurcation, the East Korean Warm Current (EKWC), the Japan nearshore branch, the confluence of the EKWC, and the North Korean Cold Current near the Korean coast and flows northeastward along the subpolar front, and a mesoscale anticyclonic eddy in the Ulleng/Tsushima Basin. A variational P -vector method was used to invert the velocity field. This method has the capability to invert flow reasonably well across the shallow straits such as the Tsushima/ Korea, Tsugaru, and Soya Straits.