Mean Flow and Variability at the Upper Portion of the East Sea Proper Water in the southwestern East Sea with APEX Floats

  • Lee, Ho-Man (Marine Meteorology and Earthquake Research Laboratory, Meteorological Research Institute) ;
  • Kim, Tae-Hee (Marine Meteorology and Earthquake Research Laboratory, Meteorological Research Institute) ;
  • Kim, Ju-Ho (Marine Meteorology and Earthquake Research Laboratory, Meteorological Research Institute) ;
  • Youn, Yong-Hoon (Marine Meteorology and Earthquake Research Laboratory, Meteorological Research Institute)
  • Published : 2003.11.01

Abstract

16 APEX floats, autonomous profiling floats deployed as part of the Array for Real-time Geostrophic Oceanography (ARGO) program, are used to understand the currents at 800 m underwater in the southwestern East Sea. The flow penetrates into the Ulleung basin (UB) through two paths: an extension of the southward flowing the North Korean Cold Water along the east coast of Korea and between Ulleung Island and Dok island. Flows at 800 m are observed range 0.2 to 4.29 cm/sec and the variability in the north in the DB is stronger than that in the south. The eddy kinetic energy is found a few $cm^{2}$ $S^{-2}$. In the UB, cyclonic flows from 0.3 - 1.6 cm/see are observed with the bottom topography.

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