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Tidal transport through the Tsugaru Strait — part I: Characteristics of the major tidal flow and its residual current

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Abstract

The potential role of the tide-induced time-mean flow (the tidal residual current) in determining transport through the Tsugaru Strait (located between the East/Japan Sea and the North Pacific) is investigated using a high-resolution numerical barotropic model. The calculated K1, O1, M2, and S2 tidal fields agree well with available observational records derived from both tide gauge and current meter measurements in the strait and the adjacent seas. The tidal residual current speed reaches 0.3 ms−1 in two narrow “neck” areas where topographic sills are located. This result suggests that tides should be taken into account in estimating the long-term water mass and nutrient transport through narrow regions between the East/Japan Sea and the North Pacific. An interesting aspect of the tidal residual current field is the prediction of several active eddy zones in which sequences of eddy triplets develop in the vicinity of capes. Our vorticity analysis reveals that the interplay of topographic effects arising from both the headland and the sill around capes plays a critical role in the formation of these triple eddy patterns.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geophysics, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8502, Japan

    Quang-Hung Luu, Kosuke Ito, Yoichi Ishikawa & Toshiyuki Awaji

  2. Department of Mathematics, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam

    Quang-Hung Luu

  3. Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Taiwan National University, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan

    Kosuke Ito

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  1. Quang-Hung Luu
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  2. Kosuke Ito
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  3. Yoichi Ishikawa
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  4. Toshiyuki Awaji
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Correspondence to Quang-Hung Luu.

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Luu, QH., Ito, K., Ishikawa, Y. et al. Tidal transport through the Tsugaru Strait — part I: Characteristics of the major tidal flow and its residual current. Ocean Sci. J. 46, 273–288 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12601-011-0021-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12601-011-0021-z

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