Sovremennye problemy distantsionnogo zondirovaniya Zemli iz kosmosa, 2010, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 286-296
Low-frequency variability modes of sea level in the Japan Sea
V.I. Il'ichev Pacific Oceanological Institute FEB RAS, 690041 Vladivostok, 43 Karbysheva Str
Variability of sea level in the Japan Sea was studied from AVISO weekly gridded altimetric fields for 1992-2007. Low-pass sea level anomalies were decomposed to EOF. Quasi-biennial synchronous sea level oscillations were revealed, while no linear trend was detected. It was shown that the large-scale meridional sea level gradient governing the circulation strength in the entire Japan Sea was stable with respect to the interannual variations of heat flux through the sea surface and the Korea Strait. It was also shown that in late summer the northward heat transport from the Korea Strait strengthened along the eastern coast, while in spring and autumn it strengthened in the western Japan Sea. This oscillation occured on the seasonal, quasi-biennial, and interannual time scales.
Keywords: empirical orthogonal functions, the Japan Sea, sea level, satellite altimetry, wavelet transform, sea circulation, synchronous level oscillations, quasi-biennial variability, water exchange through the straits
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