Annual variation of throughflow in the Seto Inland Sea

Abstract

The latitude of the Kuroshio stream axis is closely related to the intrusion of the Kuroshio water mass and the throughflow offshore from two open boundaries. The water densities at entrances depend on the intrusion difference of the Kuroshio water mass. A new data processing method, which accounts for various data of water quality measured at different observation points under different river discharge rates, is proposed to let the model be applicable to long-term and wide-area simulations. The throughflow depends on the boundary sea level difference and the density gradient between boundaries caused by the intrusion of the Kuroshio water.