Climatology of the mixed layer depth in the East/Japan Sea

Abstract

A climatology for the mixed layer depth (MLD) in the East/Japan Sea was produced using temperature profile data collected from 1931 to 2005. MLD is defined as the depth at which the temperature differs from that at 10 m depth by 0.2 degrees C. It varies seasonally with a range of about 20 m, a minimum, near the subpolar front (SPF, 38 degrees-41 degrees N), 60-100 m in south of 38 degrees N and north of 41 degrees N, and about 200 m near the winter convection region (132 degrees-135 degrees E & 41 degrees-43 degrees N). The weaker seasonality near the SPF seems to result from year-round strong stratification sustained largely by advected warm water of the East Korean Warm Current and a result of complex dynamic process of frontogenesis including lateral dynamics or wind-induced friction. The temperature-based MLD does not show any significant difference (mostly less than 20 m) from the density-based values over most of the East/Japan Sea except a few localized regions near the Russian and Japanese coasts where barrier layers form from late fall through early spring. This study confirms that atmospheric forcing largely dominates the overall magnitude of MLD seasonal variability in most of the East/Japan Sea. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.