Sea level response to wind field fluctuation around the tip of the Izu Peninsula

Abstract

The mechanism of a characteristic sea level response (barotropic coastal ocean response) to wind field fluctuation around the tip of the Izu Peninsula observed during the middle of December 2000 to the middle of January 2001 was investigated based on three types of numerical experiments using the Princeton Ocean Model with various parameters. The response was characterized by the relaxation of sea level falling (rising) during eastward upwelling (westward downwelling) favorable wind regime. Analyses of quasi-realistic numerical model results in terms of the vertically integrated momentum balances and vorticity balance for the barotropic mode revealed that: 1) development/abatement of two anomalous circulations generated around the tip of the Izu Peninsula controls the sea level response through the acceleration/deceleration of a quasi-geostrophic barotropic coastal current between the circulations; 2) nonlinear vorticity advection by the Kuroshio Current and by the coastal current, coupled with vorticity diffusion, decelerates the quasi-geostrophic coastal current in the latter half of the wind regimes, which induces the relaxation of sea level rise/fall. The results of the quasi-realistic numerical experiment suggest that an analysis of the vorticity balance for the barotropic mode contributes to a better understanding of sea level responses to wind in coastal regions with strong currents and complex topography. In addition, a numerical experiment with idealized spatially uniform density stratification and a quasi-realistic wind field shows that if the Kuroshio Current had been shifted far offshore from the Izu Peninsula during the observation period, westward propagating continental shelf waves would have controlled the coastal sea level response.