Interleaving Phenomena of the North Pacific Intermediate Water in the Offshore Area of the Kuroshio

Abstract

To study the intruded phenomena of North Pacific Ocean around Boso peninsular, water property distribution in the adjacent seas to Japan is studied using the hydrographic data obtained by Japan Maritime Agency and Japan Fisheries Agency from 1973 to 1996, The scattering of water type in T-5 diagram is relatively small in the Kuroshio Region. Both the envelopes of saline side and of fresh side of the scattered data points shifts gradually from saline side to fresh side as the observation Line moves from southwest to northeast. In mixed water region, the scattering of water type increases rapidly as the observation line moves north; the envelope of fresh cold side moves towards fresh cold side much faster than that of saline side. This suggests that the water does not advect along the salinity minimum layer, but the salinity minimum layer can be understood as a boundary of two different waters aligned vertically, We defined the typical water masses as the Oyashio Water and the Kuroshio Water. The water mass below the salinity minimum layer may be created by isopycnal mixing of these two water masses with a fixed mixing rate. While the water mass above the salinity minimum cannot be created simply by isopycnal mixing. The salinity minimum layer may be eroded from upper side due to active minxing processes in the surface layer, while the water of the salinity minimum layer moves gradually southward. This appears to give an explanation why the thermosteric anomaly value at salinity minimun decereases towards south.