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IOC/SC-WESTPAC-XI/11.3
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Bangkok, 16 March 2017
English only
INTERGOVERNMENTAL OCEANOGRAPHIC COMMISSION
(of UNESCO)
Eleventh Intergovernmental Session of the IOC SubCommission for the Western Pacific (WESTPAC-XI)
Qingdao, China, 21-23 April 2017
Item 5.1.3 of the Provisional Agenda
PROGRESS REPORT ON
AIR-SEA INTERACTION IN THE KUROSHIO EXTENSION AND ITS CLIMATE IMPACT
(May 2015–April 2017)
In accordance with Terms of Reference of IOC Sub-Commission for the
Western Pacific, the report is provided to facilitate the consideration by
the Sub-Commission on the progress made on the WESTPAC project on
Air-Sea Interaction in the Kuroshio Extension and its Climate Impact.
The Sub-Commission is invited to discuss about the progress made over
the past intersessional period, provide directives and advice on its future
development, and further identify resources and national commitments to
its implementation in the region.
IOC/SC-WESTPAC-XI/11.3
page 1
I.
Project
1.
Air-Sea Interaction in the Kuroshio Extension and its Climate Impact
II.
Project objectives and expected outputs/outcomes
2.
Objectives:
1.
2.
3.
3.
Establish the theoretical framework of the multiscale ocean-atmosphere interaction
in the mid-latitudes, especially in the Kuroshio extension region, to provide a
theoretical basis for understanding and predicting the global climate change.
Develop sustainable observation networks in the Kuroshio extension region.
Reveal the key physical processes in determining climate change and improve the
understanding of ocean and climate predictability in the Western Pacific.
Expected Outcomes:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Develop a high-resolution regional coupled model system.
Establish the international cooperation in observation and research in the Kuroshio
extension region.
Publish papers on the word-class SCI journals and write brief introduction
documents to IOC/WESTPAC for member states sharing.
Scientific communication among participants.
III.
Principal Investigator (Chairperson) and Project Steering Group
4.
Chair:
Lixin Wu, Ocean University of China
5.
Co-Chair:
Xiaopei Lin, Ocean University of China
Ping Chang, Texas A&M University
6.
Steering Group:
Lixin Wu, Ocean University of China
Xiaopei Lin, Ocean University of China
Ping Chang, Texas A&M University
Shang-Ping Xie, Scripps Oceanography Institution
Bo Qiu, University of Hawaii
Meghan F Cronin, NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, USA
Hisashi Nakamura, University of Tokyo, Japan
Yoshimi Kawai, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Japan
Peter Brandt, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Germany
IV.
Terms of Reference of the Project Steering Group
Composition:
7.
The Project Steering Group is constituted by the outstanding scientists in different areas,
such as observation, modeling research, air-sea interaction and ocean dynamics. According to the
specialty of members, each member is in charge of the relevant part of project
Functions:
8.
The Project Steering Group is established to meet the scientific, managerial,
implementation, and resource needs of the study of air-sea interaction in the Kuroshio extension
region.
IOC/SC-WESTPAC-XI/11.3
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9.
The Group carries out the following functions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
V.
Review and identify programme requirements;
Promote efficient and cost-effective implementation of the programme and prepare
recommendations on this implementation to the WESTPAC;
Identify the resources necessary to meet the programme needs;
Ensure effective interaction and communication with regional intergovernmental as
well as regional and global non-governmental organizations involved in the research;
Report to the WESTPAC
Activities carried out and/or to be carried out during the last intersessional period
(May 2015 – April 2017)
1.
Publication since 2015
10.
Over 60 papers regarding to Pacific Ocean dynamics and climate change have been
published on the high-level SCI journals since 2015, among which two papers entitled “Western
boundary currents regulated by interaction between ocean eddies and the atmosphere” (Ping
Chang as lead investigator) and “Observing mesoscale eddy effects on mode-water subduction
and transport in the North Pacific” (Shang-Ping Xie as lead investigator) published on Nature in
2016 and Nature Communications in 2015, respectively, are in the spotlight.
11.
By focusing on the Kuroshio Extension Jet (KEJ) east of Japan as the direct continuation of
the Kuroshio and conducting sensitivity experiments with a high-resolution Coupled Regional
Climate Model covering the entire North Pacific Ocean, we show that feedback between ocean
mesoscale eddies and the atmosphere (OME-A) is fundamental to the dynamics and control of
these energetic currents. The finding has important implications for improving climate models’
representation of major oceanic fronts, which are essential components in the simulation and
prediction of extratropical storms and other extreme events, as well as in the projection of the
effect on these events of climate change.
12.
In late March 2014, we deployed 17 Argo-profiling floats with enhanced daily sampling in an
anticyclonic eddy (AC) south of the Kuroshio Extension (KE), which provides a unique opportunity
for the first time to observe the eddy subduction processes in the western North Pacific. Analysis of
over 3,000 hydrographic profiles following the AC reveals that potential vorticity and apparent
oxygen utilization distributions are asymmetric outside the AC core, with enhanced subduction
near the southeastern rim of the AC.
Figure 1 Schematic of
OME-A feedback
regulating the KEJ
(published on Nature)
IOC/SC-WESTPAC-XI/11.3
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2.
Cruises in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean
13.
Until recently, there have been quite limited high-resolution observations in the Kuroshio
extension region. One project providing systematic observational data is the Kuroshio Extension
System Study (KESS), launched from 2004 to 2006 and funded by US National Science
Foundation (NSF), which deployed an observing array consisting of Argo profiling floats, mooredprofiler, moorings, Current-Pressure equipped Inverted Echo Sounder (CPIES) as well as a
surface buoy (KEO) located south of the Kuroshio. North of the Kuroshio, another buoy (JKEO)
was deployed by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)
Institute in 2007. However, JKEO has been discontinued after the end of the Japanese HOTSPOT
project in 2015. Following KESS and Japanese HOTSPOT projects, a new observational plan in
the Kuroshio extension region under IOC Sub-Commission for the Western Pacific (WESTPAC),
Air-Sea Interaction in the Kuroshio Extension and its Climate Impact (AIKEC) led by the Ocean
University of China (OUC) and the Texas A&M University (TAMU), was setup to maintain
continuous and sustainable observations in this region.
14.
Supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, the Natural Science
Foundation of China and the Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology,
systematic observations in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean are carried out during four cruises from
2014 to 2016 conducted by OUC. A summary of these cruises is shown in Figure 2. Two moorings
have been deployed during the past two years: south of the Kuroshio extension where most of cold
oceanic eddies occur, the M1 mooring has been placed near NOAA KEO buoy, so that the flux
measurement can be combined with oceanic measurements to quantify the importance of
interaction between oceanic eddy and atmosphere in this region; north of the Kuroshio extension
where most of warm oceanic eddies and the most intensive mesoscale air-sea couplings occur, the
M2 mooring has been deployed in the 2016 cruise. In our future plan (2017-2018), two new surface
flux buoys will be deployed to the north of the Kuroshio extension to focus on the mesoscale airsea interaction dynamics. The first surface flux buoy, named CKEO1, will be deployed in
September 2017 and placed at around M2 to serve as a contrast with those in the south of the
Kuroshio extension. The second surface flux buoy, named CKEO2, will be deployed during the
autumn of 2018 and placed to the east of CKEO1 at around 160°E to monitor the different
behaviors of upstream/downstream air-sea interactions in the Kuroshio extension. In addition to
subsurface moorings and surface buoys, CPIES will be deployed near M1 and M2 moorings to
measure the high-resolution current, which assist to study the energy cascading of the small scale
oceanic eddies.
15.
With respect to the completed cruises, we have done a lot of work in the Kuroshio
extension region. The 2014 research cruise took place from 17 March to 23 April 2014, and it was
carried out by the research vessel “Dong Fang Hong 2”. In the 38-day voyage, researchers
deployed 25 sets of Argo floats and, for the first time in China, a deep-sea (6000m) mooring
system (M0) in the Kuroshio extension region (Figure 2). In November 2015, another deep-sea
mooring (M1) with McLane Moored Profiler (MMP) mounted was deployed and successfully
recovered in the 2016. The 2016 cruise also deployed another subsurface mooring at the same
location (M1) and a new subsurface mooring in the north of the Kuroshio Extension in the east of
JKEO (M2). In addition to subsurface moorings, hundreds of radiosondes and ConductivityTemperature-Depth (CTD) casts have been conducted during the previous cruises to profile the
atmospheric boundary layer, lower troposphere and the upper-layer ocean.
IOC/SC-WESTPAC-XI/11.3
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Figure 2 Moorings, Buoys and CTD/Argo/MSS positions in the new observation plan
3.
Session in the 10th WESTPAC International Scientific Conference
16.
We are now organizing a session for the 10th WESTPAC International Scientific
Conference next year. The session will be focusing on the Western Boundary Currents (WBCs),
particularly on its dynamics, variability and impacts on climate and marine ecosystems. In this
session, we wish to seek contributions from studies including, but not limited to, multi-scale
variability of the WBCs, interactions between WBCs and marginal seas, meso/submeso-scale and
frontal processes in the WBC extensions, air-sea interaction, and impact of WBCs on marine
ecosystems. This session will be co-chaired by Zhaohui Chen and Xiaopei Lin from Ocean
University of China, Bo Qiu from University of Hawaii at Manoa, and Stuart P. Bishop from North
Carolina State University.
VI.
Problems encountered and actions to be considered by the 11th Intergovernmental
Session, tentatively scheduled for April 21-23, 2017, Qingdao, China
1.
2.
3.
Further promote the international cooperation among the Pacific Rim countries.
Integrate the existing observation systems to develop a systematic observation
network.
Strengthen communication and education to improve the observation capability and
academic levels of the member states of WESTPAC.
IOC/SC-WESTPAC-XI/11.3
page 5
VII.
Workplan and Budget for May 2017 – May 2019
Program
Activities
Air-Sea Interaction in 1. The third
the Kuroshio
‘International
Extension and its
Symposium on
Climate Impact
Boundary Current
dynamics’
Objectives
Expected outputs/outcomes
Discuss the studies in
the Western
Boundary Regions
Improve understanding of the
boundary current dynamics
and raise level of climate
prediction
Date and
place
July 2017,
Qingdao
Funding Required
Other sources
(i.e. from
IOC
national or
international)
10,000
USD
50,000 USD
Remark