The wave-induced fluctuations of wind velocity over wind-waves measured in the wind tunnel experiment (ICHIKAWA and IMASATO, 1976) are compared with the numerical results estimated by a linear model (Model II) on the turbulent wind field over a dominant component of wind-waves. In the Model II, the undulation of mean air flow is introduced by adopting the curvilinear co-ordinates, and the existence of viscous sublayer and the influence of underlying wind-waves to background atmospheric turbulence are taken into account. The numerical results estimated by the Model II are in good agreement with the experimental results. The good agreement, which was not obtained from the previous model (Model I) in the Cartesian co-ordinates, is shown to be attributed to the undulating mean flow introduced in the Model II.

View full abstract

The spectral energy balance in the wind-wave spectrum is studied with taking into account the energy input from turbulent wind to waves, the energy rearrangement due to conservative nonlinear wave-wave interaction and the energy dissipation due to water turbulence. Using the Ichikawa's (1978) model on the turbulent wind field over wind-waves and assuming that the energy dissipation is β times greater than that due to molecular viscosity of water, the energy input and dissipation are determined so as to satisfy the condition that the nonlinear-transfers of momentum and energy conserve the total momentum and energy of waves. The nonlinear energy-transfer is estimated from the energy balance at each frequency. It is found that the energy input and dissipation satisfying the condition on the conservative nonlinear-transfer are determined by the characteristic height of wind-wave field and the friction velocity of air, and that the spectral distribution of the nonlinear energy-transfer estimated in this paper is qualitatively similar to that estimated by the nonlinear wave-wave interaction theory of HASSELMANN (1962).

View full abstract

Characteristics of the tidal residual flow, the steady current induced in the tidal current system, are studied by a numerical method. The model basin has the same topography as that studied by YANAGI (1976) and by OONISHI (1977) where only the horizontal motion of the residual flow is concerned. In this study, the effect of the vertical motion is investigated as it is associated with the tidal residual flow. To this end, the bottom friction omitted in the previous study (OONISHI, 1977) is included and a two-leveled model is adopted.
The first two experiments exclude the earth's rotation and the buoyancy effect on the flow. The results are as follows. The horizontal flow pattern is essentially the same as that obtained in the previous Oonishi study. The bottom friction results in the reduction of the velocity of the residual flow especially in the bottom level. An important result is that vertical velocity is as strong as the horizontal velocity multiplied by the scale ratio and that it remains even in the time-average. Upwelling appears at the center of the residual circulation. This upwelling explains Yanagi's observation in the hydraulic model that the sediment is swept by the flow and accumulates horizontally in the area at the bottom below the center of the residual circulation. The distribution of a tracer, which is simultaneously calculated in these cases, indicates the important role of vertical motion in the material dispersion in the model.
The last experiment includes the earth's rotation and the buoyancy effect presuming a more actual sea. It shows another effect of the vertical motion. The Coriolis term, which operates only under the condition that a horizontal divergence of the flow is present, skews the horizontal residual flow pattern.

View full abstract

Examined here is a hypothetical idea of the splitting of the subtropical gyre in the western North Pacific on the basis of two independent sources of data, i. e., the longterm mean geopotential-anomaly data compiled by the Japanese Oceanographic Data Center and the synoptic hydrographic (STD) data taken by the Hakuho Maru in the source region of the Kuroshio and the Subtropical Countercurrent in the period February and March 1974. Both of the synoptic and the long-term mean dynamic-topographic maps reveal three major ridges, which indicate that the western subtropical gyre is split into three subgyres. Each subgyre is made up of the pair of currents, the Kuroshio and the Kuroshio Countercurrent, the Subtropical Countercurrent and a westward flow lying just south of the Countercurrent (18°N-21°N), and the northern part of the North Fquatorial Current and an eastward flow at around 18°N. The subgyres are more or less composed of a train of anticyclonic eddies with meridional scales of between 300 and 600 km, so that the volume transport of the subgyres varies by a factor of two or more from section to section. The upper-water characteristics also support the splitting of the subtropical gyre; the water characteristics are fairly uniform within each subgyre, but markedly different between them. The northern rim of each subgyre appears as a sharp density front accompanied by an eastward flow. The bifurcations of the sharp density fronts across the western boundary current indicate that the major part of the surface waters in the North Equatorial Countercurrent is not brought into the Kuroshio. The western boundary current appears as a continuous feature of high speed, but the waters transported change discontinuously at some places.

View full abstract

This paper reviews the author's research on metabolic activities of marine zooplankton for which the Okada Prize of the Oceanographical Society of Japan was awarded in 1978. The term metabolic activities used here refers to various physiological rate processes of zooplankton, such as respiration, excretion, feeding and growth.
On the basis of experimental data obtained by the author and other workers, it is emphasized that all these rates are power functions of the body weight of zooplankton. In other words, the weight specific rates (rates per unit body weight) increase with a decrease in body weight. The habitat temperature of zooplankton can also affect the level of these rates.
The relationship between these rates and body weight established experimentally can be applied to the estimation of the total rates of a zooplankton community in the field, by knowing the size distribution of individual zooplankters. The feasibility of this method was tested with the zooplankton community in the Kuroshio region.
Finally, the potential importance of microzooplankton in total zooplankton respiration was suggested, based on respiration rate data recently obtained in the author's laboratory.

View full abstract