ASSESSMENT OF THE INFLUENCE OF CLIMATIC FACTORS ON WATER MASS TRANSFORMATION IN THE SEA OF JAPAN

S. N. Taranova and I. A. Zhabin

Climatic data on the total heat flux, evaporation, precipitation, temperature, and salinity are used to calculate the rate of surface water transformation in the Sea of Japan, to estimate the annual mean inflow of surface water in the density interval of intermediate water, and to study the role of Ekman pumping in the formation of the intermediate layer. On average about 3.3 Sv of surface water in the Sea of Japan is transformed to higher (1.7 Sv) or lower (1.6 Sv) density values. With climatic heat and salt fluxes, 0.2 Sv of high-salinity intermediate water is formed from the surface water annually. The rate of formation of 26.9–27.3σθ waters which form the lower salinity intermediate water is about 0.5 Sv. The contribution of Ekman pumping to water mass formation is about an order of magnitude less than that of heat and salt fluxes. This can influence only the formation of the least dense (< 27.1σθ) water of the intermediate layer.

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