Hydraulic Model Experiment on Circulation in Sagami Bay, Japan (IV) -Time-Varying States of Flow Pattern and Water Exchange in Baroclinic Rotating Model-

Baroclinic hydraulic model experiments on the time-varying states of the flow pattern and water exchange in Sagami Bay were carried out based on quasi-steady state experiments on the flow pattern. For the model experiments, density changes as well as time changes in the volume transport of the upper layer were executed to investigate the flow response of the bay in the case of a sudden inflow of low density water and variable volume transport into the Sagami Bay. The results of the model experiments showed that when the volume transport was increased frontal eddies or frontal wave streamers from the Kuroshio Through Flow were transferred to the inner part of the bay along with cyclonic circulation in the bay. In addition, density boundary currents appeared and flowed along the eastern boundary of the bay. As the upper layer density decreased, frontal eddies, frontal streamers and coastal boundary density currents occurred and proceeded along the eastern boundary of the bay at a high speed.