Variation of volume transport of the Tsugaru Warm Current in the period from 2000 to 2002

Ito, Toshimichi; Kawamura, Hideyuki; Nakayama, Tomoharu*; Shima, Shigeki*; Onishi, Mitsuyo*; Isoda, Yutaka*

Proceedings of International Workshop on Monitoring and Forecasting of the Rapid Change in Ocean-Atmosphere Environment in the East Asia, p.13 - 14, 2007/11

The volume transport of the Tsugaru Warm Current (TgWC) from April 2000 to June 2002, which was estimated based on the ferry-borne ADCP observation was examined in this study. The estimated transport varied from about 0.6 Sv to 2.5 Sv (=10 ms), and the mean value was estimated to be about 1.3 Sv with 0.3 Sv showing the similar level as that in the preliminary result. The temporal variation with a period of about 20-30 days seemed to be remarkable in the anterior half of this observation period rather than seasonal variation. By contrast, the seasonal variation was dominant in the posterior half in which the minimum and maximum values appear in the spring and autumn, respectively. The temporal change of the transport showed good correlation with the sea level differences around the strait as expected. In addition, the present result suggests that the change of local wind around the strait also lead in part of the change of the transport.