• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.5-20
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• 2002

To investigate the effect of mechanical parameters on the circulation and its fluctuation in Sagami Bay, baroclinic model experiments were carried out by use of a two-layer source-sink flow in a rotating tank. In the experiment, a simple coastal topography with flat bottom was reproduced. The results show that the path of the Through Flow, which corresponds to the branch current of the Kuroshio, depends on external Rossby number (Ro) and internal Rossby number $(Ro^*)$, and divided into two regimes. For $Ro^*\leq1.0$ in which Rossby internal radius of deformation of the Through Flow is smaller than the width of the approaching channel, the current flows along the Oshima Island as a coastal boundary density current separated from the western boundary of the channel. For $Ro^*>1.0$ it changes to a jet flow along the western boundary of the channel, separated from the coast of Oshima Island. The current is independent on both Ro and Ro* in the regime of $Ro^*>1.0,\;Ro\geq0.06$ and $Ro^*\leq1.0,\;Ro\geq0.06$. The pattern of the cyclonic circulation in the inner part of the bay is also determined by Ro and Ro*. In case of $Ro^*\leq1.0$, frontal eddies are formed in the northern boundary of the Through Flow. These frontal eddies intrude into the inner part along the eastern boundary of the bay providing vorticity to form and maintain the inner cyclonic circulation. For $Ro^*>1.0$, the wakes from the Izu peninsula are superposed intensifying the cyclonic circulation. The pattern of the cyclonic circulation is divided into three types; 1) weak cyclonic circulation and the inner anticyclonic circulation $(Ro<0.12)$. 2) cyclonic circulation in the bay $(0.12\leq Ro<0.25)$. 3) cyclonic circulation with strong boundary current $(RO\geq0.25)$.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.10-17
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• 1999

The purpose of this study is to investigate the baroclinic response of the upper-layer of two-layered fluid when the lower-layer motion is driven by pumping an external fluid into the lower-layer or by pumping out the lower-layer fluid. Recent observations of the barotropic nature of deep water movements in the East Sea (fakematsu et al., 1994; KORDI, 1997) may suggest a possibility of interaction between the upper and lower layer via interface tilting. For homogeneous fluid, steady and axisymmetric source or sink causes axisymmetric geostrophic flow, and the lower-layer motion in two-layered fluid was similar to homogeneous flow. But as Rossby number (${\varepsilon}$) or internal Froude number ($f_2$) increases, the lower-layer motion was affected by the interface tilting. The interface tilting calculated based on the observed azimuthal velocities of upper- and lower-layers becomes greater as $f_2$ increases. In other words, the increase of the $f_2$ changes the barotropic system to baroclinic system.