Seasonal Variation of Volume Transport through the Straits of the East/Japan Sea Viewed from the Island Rule

Among others, a question that has long been unanswered is why the seasonal variation of volume transport is larger in the Soya and Korea/Tsushima Straits than in the Tsugaru Strait. An attempt is made to answer this question in terms of the island rule with friction being taken into account. The problem is idealized as a simple model. The model results indicate that volume transport through a channel is determined not only by the circulation created around the adjacent island but also by those created around the neighboring islands farther away. The latter is due to the presence of bottom friction in the channels. The volume transports through the Korea/Tsushima, Tsugaru and Soya Straits estimated from the model using observed wind data show the general pattern of observed seasonality, although they contain large errors associated with the uncertain frictional parameter employed in the model. The model indicates that the observed seasonality arises essentially from the fact that wind stress curl changes its sign, from negative in the summer to positive in winter, following a large fluctuation of zero-stress curl latitude east of Hokkaido.