Seasonal changes of water mass, circulation and dynamic response in the Kuril Basin of the Sea of Okhotsk

Abstract

The seasonal variability of the hydrography and anticyclonic circulation in the Kuril Basin of the Sea of Okhotsk, from which the North Pacific ventilation originates, is studied from bi-monthly climatologies of temperature, salinity, dynamic height and current velocity. The subsurface hydrography of the Kuril Basin is characterized by the dominant role of fresh and cold waters transported by the East Sakhalin Current during winter and spring, and relatively warm and saline waters flowing with the Soya Warm Current. At the intermediate layer, the influence of dense shelf water is maximum from May to August, and this water mixes with surrounding waters in around half a year to form a well homogenized Okhotsk Sea Intermediate Water, the source of North Pacific ventilation. The anticyclonic circulation typical of the Kuril Basin exhibits a strong seasonality, being absent in winter and showing a maximum amplitude in summer. Its formation is mainly related to the dynamic response of isopycnals to wind forcing. A dynamic height maximum appears along the coastal regions from Sakhalin Island to the southern Kuril Straits in winter, likely migrates towards the Kuril Basin in March–April and forms the anticyclonic system between May and October. The dynamic height – and thus the flow field – is mainly determined by isopycnal displacement in and around the Kuril Basin, whereas advection of water masses has a negligible effect. Surface intensification and decay of the anticyclonic circulation seems to be related to other processes such as heat exchange with the atmosphere.