AGU: Geophysical Research Letters

 

Editors' Highlight

Odd water found in the ocean near southern Japan

Measurements of the ocean temperature and salinity near southern Japan revealed a rare occurrence of water from the North Pacific in subsurface eddy currents. Takikawa et al. (2005) recorded seawater temperature and salinity at a variety of depths in a region of ocean southeast of Okinawa. The measurements were taken from a Japan Meteorological Agency research ship between 1993 and 2003. In February 2002, they showed a 300-m-wide, 100-km-long mass of unusual water at a depth of about 300 dbar in one of the region's subsurface eddy currents. The temperature and salinity of the water suggested it was North Pacific Subtropical Mode Water, a layer of water that forms in the winter under cold surface waters. This was the only time during the 10 years of observation that this water was found in the subsurface waters near southeastern Japan. The researchers say this finding will help oceanographers understand the movement of North Pacific Subtropical Mode Water and the dynamics of ocean currents in the region's giant, clockwise circulating current, known as the North Pacific subtropical gyre.

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