Oceanographical Society Research Articles

The Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society

The Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society

The process to the establishment of "the Oceanographic Society of Japan" from its mother "the Colloquium on Oceanography" and the first decade afterwards

「海洋學談話會」は，農林省水産試験場の宇田道隆の発起により，海洋学に関する論著の紹介，試験研究成果の発表，および各職場の会員間の交流を目的として，1932年4月に開始された。東京・月島の水産試験場で月2 回木曜日の例会は1941年2月の172回まで続き，実講演者は80名，延べ話題提供数は506件に達した。この実績に伴う海洋学への情熱と連携の高まりによって提唱された日本海洋学会の創立は，海洋気象台（神戸）に既存していた「海洋学会」と話合いが行われたが，1937年前半に不調に帰した。その後，1939年末における標準海水準備委員会の立上げを切掛けとして，「海洋學談話會」と「海洋学会」との間に妥協が成立し，1941年1月28日に創立に至った。ここでは，「海洋學談話會」の発起，内容，切掛けおよび母体から日本海洋学会創立への紆余曲折の経緯を調べたので，関係科学者の役割も含めて報告する。

School Visit Program by the Oceanographic Society of Japan

School Visit Program by the Oceanographic Society of Japan

Editorial

Editorial

Change of policy

During the long publishing history of the Journal of Oceanography, the Oceanographic Society of Japan had charged authors for publication several times. Since 2011, when the journal moved to publish with Springer, the publication fee was waived. However, for several reasons, we have decided to charge this fee again starting from August 1st, 2014. The following rule applies to all articles submitted after August 1st, and the authors will be invoiced after the manuscript has been accepted. If the first author is a member of the Oceanographic Society of Japan when submitting the manuscript: 20,000 JPY. If the first author is NOT a member of the Oceanographic Society of Japan when submitting the manuscript: 50,000 JPY. We ask for your kind understanding with regard to this decision.

Message from the President of the Oceanographic Society of Japan

Message from the President of the Oceanographic Society of Japan

A new partner for the Journal of Oceanography

I am pleased to announce that we have a new partner, Springer Japan, in publishing the Journal of Oceanography (JO) beginning with this issue. The journal started in 1992 as a continuation of the Journal of the Oceanographic Society of Japan in celebration of its 50th anniversary. During its 19-year history, having been in partnership with Terra Pub, TerraPub/Kluwer, and TerraPub/Springer, JO has received increasing recognition in the world of science. However, it became evident that having both domestic and international partners simultaneously was not appropriate in the ‘‘Era of Online Journals’’. Another matter was page charges for authors. As the Society’s official journal, JO was not independent of the financial status of the Society, hence JO had been obliged to impose page charges for authors since 2006. The new partnership with Springer Japan resolves these matters. Under this new partnership, we are initiating Online First service, the quick online publication of articles shortly after receipt of the corrected proofs. Online First publishes accepted articles in electronic form prior to the appearance of the printed journal, without having to wait for the completion of an entire issue, printed or electronic. As each article becomes ready for Online First publication, it will be published on the Web with its own publication date. Each article will receive a permanent, unique international identification code, the digital object identifier (DOI), which is registered with the International DOI Foundation (http://www.doi.org). Contributions published Online First but not yet available in print may be cited by journal title and DOI only. The print version also includes the DOI and date of online publication. This means a significant reduction in publication time, as it will not be necessary for manuscripts to wait until the next available issue printed. We will also introduce a fully electronic manuscript submission and processing system, facilitating manuscript submission, review, and tracking. Authors can view the status of their manuscripts online at any time and can both read and respond to reviewers’ comments; they also have the convenience of submitting revisions online. This system substantially shortens the time from submission to acceptance, so that articles can be published promptly. The system will become effective from 1 April 2011 with a new Editor-in-Chief and editorial board members. I am honored to announce this news as I come to the end of my term as Editor-in-Chief. Taking advantage of this opportunity, I thank TerraPub for being a successful partner of JO. I sincerely hope that our new partnership with Springer will be a good step in preparing JO to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the society’s official publication next year.

Southern Hemisphere Meteorology and Oceanography

wHat: nearly 500 scientists and researchers from around the world gathered to focus on and discuss the weather, climate, and ocean processes of the ocean-dominated Southern hemisphere. wHen: 9–13 February 2009 wHere: melbourne, Victoria, australia ince 1983, and approximately every three years since, the American Meteorological Society (AMS) Committee on Meteorology and Oceanography of the Southern Hemisphere (SH) has planned and staged an international conference focusing on the unique aspects of atmospheric and oceanic science in the SH. Scientific inquiry in SH meteorology and oceanography has expanded considerably over the past 50 yr, beginning with the International Geophysical Year of 1957/58 and continuing into the International Polar Year of 2007/08. A number of factors have driven this progress: 1) increasing numbers of observations of the SH, particularly in the ocean (e.g., Argo floats, moored arrays in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans, and Southern Ocean monitoring); 2) the importance of the generally data-sparse SH to global climate and meteorological knowledge has been underscored by recent increases in oceanobserving systems coupled with recent advances in ocean modeling; 3) the increased availability of remotely observed data by satellite; and 4) operational implementation of improved numerical weather prediction models that has resulted in better forecasts in both hemispheres. The opportunities provided by these advances have both increased understanding and appreciation of the role of the SH and elevated the importance of the International Conference on SH Meteorology and Oceanography (ICSHMO). The ninth in the conference series (9ICSHMO), the culmination of more than two years of planning and coordination, was a joint venture by the AMS and the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (AMOS). On many levels, the conference was a great success, despite the travel difficulties and expense of getting to Australia (coupled with the global financial crisis), a record-breaking heat wave, and bushfires nearby. There were 471 registered attendees from 27 countries, which was the second greatest attendance ever for an ICSHMO conference. Attracting both students and scientists from developing countries has always been a priority for AFFILIATIONS: diamond—noaa/national climatic data center, Silver Spring, maryland; Plummer—australian Bureau of meteorology, melbourne, Victoria, australia; walsH—university of melbourne, melbourne, Victoria, australia CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: howard diamond, noaa/ national climatic data center, 1100 Wayne avenue, Suite 1202, Silver Spring, md 20910 e-mail: howard.diamond@noaa.gov

Trends and anomalies in sea-surface temperature, observed over the last 60 years, within the southeastern Bay of Biscay

The Oceanographic Society of Gipuzkoa has recorded daily sea-surface temperature (SST) measurements, since 2nd July 1946, on a (nearly) daily basis. Sixty years of SST measurements (1947–2007) have been considered, in order to analyse the hydrographic trends and anomalies at the southeastern Bay of Biscay. The study reviews initially the consistency and reliability of the time-series; and trends and anomaly patterns. Then, the periodicity of the series; a reference period, for analysing seasonality during the period 2001–2007; and oceano-meteorological coupling within the period 2001–2007, with reference to the baseline period, have been determined. Within this context, a slight cooling trend has been observed for the whole of the time-series, in contrast to the warming over the last three-decadal period. Regarding the periodicity of the series, several cycles have been identified, with periods of about 8, 11 and 18 years; these represent the influence of climate cycles over the (local) SST series. Additionally, seasonal anomaly patterns between 2001 and 2007 have been examined based upon the selected reference period (1980–2002). Several extreme seasonal events have been observed, such as warm summer SST values in 2003 and 2006 and cold winter values in 2005. Such events can be explained by the “deseasonality” phenomenon, observed throughout the study period. In addition to the direct influence of atmospherical parameters, such as air temperature and irradiance on SST, dynamical variables (turbulence and upwelling–downwelling) account also for this coupling. Overall, despite the marginal location and surface character of the time-series, it reveals anomalies that agree with those described for larger zones of the northeastern Atlantic Ocean; hence, it can be characterised as being a reliable and representative long-term SST series.

A Historical Note on the Study of Ocean Surface Waves

The modern study of ocean surface waves started with a pioneer study by Sverdrup and Munk (1947). More than half a century has passed since then and the study of ocean surface waves has greatly advanced. The current numerical wave models, supported by many fundamental studies, enable us to compute ocean surface waves on a global scale with sufficient accuracy for practical purposes. However, physical process controlling the energy balance of ocean surface waves is still not completely understood. The present note is a rough sketch of the historical development of the study of ocean surface waves in the latter half of the twentieth century when the Oceanographic Society of Japan was founded and grew.

Modeling of the spring bloom in Funka Bay, Japan

Effects of vertical stability and concentration of nutrient on the diatom bloom in Funka Bay, south Hokkaido, in spring were investigated using one-dimensional and three-dimensional ecosystem models. In the model, six compartments: two for phytoplankton (diatom and dinoflagellate), two for nutrients (silicate and nitrate), one for zooplankton and one for detritus were considered. Vertical stability depended on the net heat flux through the sea surface. Calculated results are compared with the observational results for 1981 (Tsunogai and Watanabe, Journal of the Oceanographical Society of Japan 39 (1983) 231–239). This comparison shows that the rapid spring diatom bloom corresponds to the timing when the net heat flux through the sea surface changes from cooling to heating. This result suggests that the stability of the water column due to warming play an important role in the onset of the diatom bloom in Funka Bay. In addition, the limiting factor of the diatom bloom during the spring bloom is not the silicate, but nitrate. The model can reproduce the observed data by changing the nutrient uptake rate. This suggests a dramatic increase in the assimilation rate of silicate after the consumption of nitrate.

A three-dimensional mixed finite-difference Galerkin function model for the oceanic circulation in the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea

A three-dimensional mixed-type model which uses a finite-difference approximation in the horizontal plane and function expansions in the vertical direction is developed for the simulation of oceanic flows in the Yellow Sea (YS) and the East China Sea (ECS). The model assumes a hydrostatic balance and solves the three-dimensional, non-linear free-surface, primitive equations for homogeneous fluids. To represent the velocity structure of oceanic currents, a set of linear interpolation functions is used from the sea surface to a depth of 300 m, characterizing the thickness of the oceanic flow, and a similarity function of the exponential type underneath. The vertical eddy viscosity takes a flow-related form in which the strong mixing due to the M 2 tide is incorporated as the background eddy viscosity. A radiation condition developed by Flather (1976. Memories de la Societe Royale des Science de Liege 10, 141–164) is employed along the open boundaries. A series of numerical experiments have been carried out using linear and quadratic bottom friction formulae. The coefficient of linear bottom friction was given by Hunter's formula (1975. Estarine and Coastal Marine Science 3, 473–475), taking into account that the oceanic flows in shelf seas are of secondary importance. The quadratic bottom friction coefficient was taken as 0.0025, the same value used in previous numerical experiments of oceanic circulation in the study area (for example, Lee, 1996. Ph.D. Thesis, Kyushu University). Both results are quite similar over the outer shelf region (Okinawa Trough and the shelf break west of Kyushu) in which tidal effects on the bottom friction are relatively small, and are qualitatively in good agreement with recent observations by ARGOS buoy tracking ( Lie and Cho, 1997. The Journal of the Korean Society of Oceanography 32, 1–7; Lie et al., 1998. Journal of Geophysical Research 103, 2963–2976). A clear difference was, however, found in the distribution of sea surface elevation and horizontal currents in the YS and shelf sea regions of the ECS where tidal currents constitute the primary circulation. The linear bottom friction gives no evidence of deep penetration of oceanic currents into the YS, while the quadratic bottom friction produces weak but distinct large meanders in the wide shelf of the ECS, and flows entering into the southern YS, seemingly in the form of the Yellow Sea Warm Current (YSWC), which forms a basin-size clockwise gyre in the YS. The calculation with linear bottom friction supports the view based on hydrographic and drift data ( Lie, 1985. Journal of the Oceanographical Society of Japan 41, 291–298; Kim et al., 1991. The Journal of the Oceanological Society of Korea 26, 262–277 (in Korean); Beardsley et al., 1992. Lamer 30, 297–314; Lie et al., 1998. Journal of Geophysical Research 103, 2963–2976) that the oceanic currents mostly turn around Cheju Island. Calculation with an inflow of 25.1 Sv through open boundaries at the both sides of Taiwan shows that 1.1 Sv goes through Korea/Tsushima Strait, 20.9 Sv through Tokara Strait and 2.7 Sv through open boundaries along the Ryukyu Islands.

Marine Geochemistry of Natural Radionuclides and Rare Earth Elements(Lecture by the Member Awarded the Oceanographic Society of Japan Prize for 1998)

I have currently worked on the chemistry and geochemistry of the ocean with special focus on seawater for which the Prize of the Oceanographic Society of Japan was awarded in 1998. Coincidentally, during the last few decades, my work is closely followed by the world-wide development of new analytical and sampling techniques that enabled us to establish the oceanic distributions of almost all the elements existing in seawater. It seems that a long desire of world chemical oceanographers is now going to be achieved. Nevertheless, kinetics that govern the present-day elemental composition and distribution are not well understood as yet, because fluxes to and out of the ocean are poorly quantified for most elements. Exceptions are natural radionuclides that have served as useful tracers to determine how the elements behave in the ocean (Nozaki, 1991). By coupling knowledge from the natural radionuclides and those of elements with similar chemical reactivities, for example, 227Ac versus lanthanide, the dynamic aspects of geochemical cycling in the ocean will be better elucidated. This is an aspect described in this article.

大規模な大気‐海洋系の変動の力学的研究

It is a great honor for me to be awarded the Oceanographic Society of Japan Prize. On this memorial occasion I have decided to deliver my message in a form of an essay on memories of my scientific activities lasted for more than twenty five years. The main purpose of this is to refresh myself with critical recollection of the past accomplishment in the field of large-scale ocean-atmosphere dynamics. However, if it could inspire young members of the OSJ with any useful ideas, my pleasure would be certainly doubled.

風波面における物理過程およびマイクロ波の後方散乱特性に関する研究

I am greatly honored to be awarded the Okada Prize of the Oceanographic Society of Japan for 1994. The present article reviews my works concerning physical processes of air-sea interface and their relation to microwave backscattering from the wind wave surfaces. A series of laboratory studies by the Physical Oceanography Group, Tohoku University has revealed that fine structures of wind-wave surfaces are generated through physical processes of turbulent boundary layers above and below the air-sea interface. Microwave backscattering from the wind wave surfaces are investigated in a wind-wave tunnel by using a X-band microwave scatterometer. Detailed analysis of time series of the backscattered intensity and Doppler spectrum shows the physical processes of microwave backscattering are closely associated with the processes of the wind wave field.

Feasibility of acoustic thermometry of Arctic Ocean climate change

Inverting observations of changes in long‐range acoustic travel time, phase, amplitude, and modal dispersion has been proposed for the Arctic Ocean. Initial calculations [Mikhalevsky et al., ‘‘Arctic Ocean Warming; Can We Measure it Acoustically?,’’ The Oceanographic Society, Second Scientific Meeting, St. Petersburg, FL (March 1991)] showed that it could be possible to monitor ocean volume warming, and changes is sea ice extent and thickness. New results will be presented using higher fidelity acoustic modeling and the results of other international collaborators, including the Russians, will be summarized. Plans for a feasibility test in the Arctic are underway for a spring 1994 experiment.

風波を中心とする海面の力学過程の研究

It is indeed a great honor for me to be awarded the Oceanographic Society of Japan Prize (1993), and to be given this opportunity to reflect on my past activities in oceanographical research. For this award, I owe a debt of gratitude to many people, including my former colleagues at the Research Institute for Applied Mechanics of Kyushu University and many friends in Japan and abroad, who supported and encouraged me during the long period of my reseach on ocean waves. I am very grateful to all of them. Taking this opportunity, I would like to talk on my representative works on wind waves and related dynamical processes at the air-sea boundary by selecting the following ten topics ; 1) Interaction between water waves and wind, 2) Nonlinear energy transfer in the spectrum of wind-generated waves, 3) The growth of the spectrum of wind-generated waves, 4) Directional spectrum of ocean waves, 5) High frequency spectrum of wind-generated waves, 6) The dispersion relation of random waves, 7) Wind-induced growth of water waves, 8) The momentum transfer from winds to waves, 9) The effect of swell on certain air-sea interaction phenomena, and 10) The microwave back-scattering from wind wave surface. For each topic, I would like to talk mainly on the motivation and background of the studies, the processes which led to the conclusions, and some significant results. Finally, several important problems for future studies are briefly discussed.

A model for the structure of anticyclonic and cyclonic rings with uniform dynamical energy density

This paper derives a model for interface depth and velocity profiles of anticyclonic and cyclonic rings under the assumption of uniform distribution of the sum of each density of kinetic and available potential energies. This assumption really means that the sum of each energy per unit area of a column of upper water of 1½-layer rings in cyclogeostrophic and hydrostatic balances is proportional to the vertical thickness of the column. The width of rotating annular warm water for an anticyclonic ring is between values of double and triple the radius of deformation, that for a cyclonic ring is less than double the radius, and both approach double the radius with increasing size of the anticyclonic and cyclonic rings. The core of an anticyclonic ring either can be at rest or in solid-body rotation, like the one studied by Kawai (1978, Preprint for 1978 Autumn Meeting of Oceanographical Society of Japan, pp. 16–17) with vorticity − ƒ/3, where ƒ is the Coriolis frequency. On the other hand, a cyclonic ring always must have a static core. Despite the possibility of anticyclonic rings with static cores, hardly any measurements have supported continuous existence of such rings. The coreless anticyclonic ring model of Kawai (1978), with uniform distribution of the sum of each density of kinetic and available potential energies, predicts velocity and other quantities greater than directly or indirectly observed ones. Discrepancy in magnitude between the predicted and observed quantities is partly accounted for by assuming that the sum of each energy density contains not only kinetic energy density from azimuthal velocity but also that from radial, vertical, turbulent and oscillating velocities. The greater, the ratio of kinetic energy density from these residual velocities to that from azimuthal velocity, the smaller the predicted quantities such as velocity become. For certain values of the vertical thickness at center and the radius of deformation, this model shows a minimum of the sum of kinetic and available potential energies contained in the ring, compared to other coreless anticyclonic rings, and hence might be optional. Adjustment of any type of anticyclonic ring in solid-body rotation to winter-cooling is briefly discussed.

Analysis of temporal and spatial variability of phytoplankton by physical-biological models

I reviewed my research on analysis of temporal and spatial variability of phytoplankton by physical-biological models. This paper was prepared for a lecture of the member awarded the Okada Prize for 1991 from the Oceanographical Society of Japan. Temporal change of phytoplankton in a local upwelling was studied by simulated upwelling experiments conducted with natural phytoplankton communities under natural surface light conditions. Results of the culture experiments was explained by a simple model. This model allows to predict the chlorophyll and nutrient concentration changes in a given upwelled water mass. Above model was verified by a local upwelling observed off Izu, Japan, on May, 1982. Phytoplankton growth and nutrient decrease in surface water of the local upwelling were observed within two days followed by decrease of phytoplankton concentration under depleted nutrient environment. The phytoplankton growth and nutrient decrease could explained by the model with phytoplankton removal rate of about half of the growth rate. Centric diatom was the dominant phytoplankton group and pennate diatom showed less abundance in the upwelled water. Pennate diatom showed fast growth rate when nutrient was abundant and fast decreasing rate after nutrient depleted. On the other hand, flagellate and monads showed relatively slow change of biomass under the change of nutrient concentrations. Furthermore, resting spore formation of centric diatom,Leptocylindrus danicus, was observed in a response to nutrient depletion. Temporal and spatial variability of phytoplankton in the southeastern U.S. continental shelf ecosystem was studied by physical-biological models. First, differences of the biological responses to frontal eddy upwelling during spring and to intrusion during summer was considered by Lagrangian particle tracing experiments with optimally-interpolated flow fields. In spring, particles showed residence time of a few days; however, particles in summer intrusion stayed on the shelf nearly 30 days. It was concluded that difference of particle residence time of upwelled water make the difference of plankton communities. Similar flow fields and particle tracing experiments were used to trace the features in chlorophyll distributions during spring of 1980 derived by Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS). Phytoplankton patchness were created and deformed by frontal eddy events. Eularian physical-biological model was constructed to understand the CZCS-chlorophyll distributions. Statistical comparisons with series of numerical experiments indicate that horizontal advection is an important process for the chlorophyll distributions and that upwelling and associated phytoplankton growth are responsible for the across-shelf gradients and maintenance of concentrations. Furthermore, the CZCS data were assimilated to the model to improve the phytoplankton concentrations, and phytoplankton carbon flux across shelf was estimated. Processes causing the time changes of chlorophyll concentrations were estimated with the model and satellite data further indicated that the both physical and biological forcing is important for the time chages. Several other studies conducted presently were mentioned.

A study on generation mechanism of a shallow sea front and its variabilities—lecture by the member awarded the Okada Prize of the Oceanographical Society of Japan for 1991—

The author reviews his study on generation mechanism of a shallow sea front and its variabilities awarded the Okada Prize of the Oceanographical Society of Japan for 1991.