Mean flow and variability in the southwestern East Sea

Abstract

The Ulleung Basin is one of three deep basins that are contained within the East/Japan Sea. Four current meter have been maintained in this basin beginning in 1996. With supporting hydrographic data and help from a high-resolution numerical model the data from these moorings provide important clues to the thermohaline and wind-driven circulation within the southwestern part of the East Sea. As the connections of the East Sea are all quite shallow the mechanisms for formation and circulation of the deeper water masses (principally East Sea Intermediate Water and East Sea Proper Water) are of special interest. Their distribution, circulation patterns and variability are discussed in the context of the regional and larger scale oceanography. In particular, the bottom water within the Ulleung Basin, which must enter through a constricted passage from the north, is found to circulate cyclonically within the basin - a pattern that seems prevalent throughout the East Sea.