Structure and dynamics of the sudden acceleration of Kuroshio off Cape Shionomisaki

Short-term fluctuations south of Japan and their relationship with the Kuroshio path: 8- to 36-day fluctuations

“…The nearshore non-largemeander path and the offshore non-large-meander path of the Kuroshio Current are schematically illustrated omitting the term "non-large-meander." We can better analyze the short-term fluctuations in these nearshore and offshore paths from the longer data period (more than five years) than from the period in the data used by Miyama and Miyazawa (2013). We cannot use the whole period of the data in Miyama and Miyazawa (2013) continuously because of about 1 year of the large-meander path from the second half of 2004 to the first half of 2005, which was a state dynamically different form the rest of the period.…”

“…We can better analyze the short-term fluctuations in these nearshore and offshore paths from the longer data period (more than five years) than from the period in the data used by Miyama and Miyazawa (2013). We cannot use the whole period of the data in Miyama and Miyazawa (2013) continuously because of about 1 year of the large-meander path from the second half of 2004 to the first half of 2005, which was a state dynamically different form the rest of the period. The overlapping period between data used in this study and that in Miyama and Miyazawa (2013) shows qualitatively the same results (not shown).…”

“…We cannot use the whole period of the data in Miyama and Miyazawa (2013) continuously because of about 1 year of the large-meander path from the second half of 2004 to the first half of 2005, which was a state dynamically different form the rest of the period. The overlapping period between data used in this study and that in Miyama and Miyazawa (2013) shows qualitatively the same results (not shown).…”

“…While the model used in Miyama and Miyazawa (2013) was forced by the wind stress and heat flux fields of the 6-hourly National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis data (2.5×2.5°horizontal resolution; Kalnay et al 1996), the reanalysis used in this study was forced by the 3-hourly data of the Japan Meteorological Agency Meso Scale Model analysis (MSM; 0.125×0.1°hor-izontal resolution; Saito et al 2007). The available dataset in this study includes daily-mean data, spanning about five and a quarter years (February 23, 2006to May 31, 2011, which is longer than the roughly four and half years (August 2003 to December 2007) of the dataset used by Miyama and Miyazawa (2013). Note that the dataset used in this study does not include the large-meander period from the second half of 2004 to the first half of 2005 (Miyazawa et al 2008).…”

“…The dataset in this study is a revised version of that used in Miyama and Miyazawa (2013). While the model used in Miyama and Miyazawa (2013) was forced by the wind stress and heat flux fields of the 6-hourly National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis data (2.5×2.5°horizontal resolution; Kalnay et al 1996), the reanalysis used in this study was forced by the 3-hourly data of the Japan Meteorological Agency Meso Scale Model analysis (MSM; 0.125×0.1°hor-izontal resolution; Saito et al 2007).…”