Optical Properties as Tracers of Water Mass Structure and Circulation Patterns in the Japan (East) Sea

摘要

For the Japan (East) Sea DRI, our objectives are to coordinate research between US scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and scientists in Japan and Korea to characterize the detailed optical properties of different water masses in the JES, and to specify the variability in the properties and their potential use as water mass tracers using in situ optics and remote sensing. Our overall hypothesis is that the JES can be defined in terms of 5 optical provinces with characteristic inherent and apparent optical properties (IOPs and AOPs) related to optically important seawater constituents. The 5 optical provinces include the Kuroshio Current intrusion through the Tsushima Strait, the East Korea Warm Current which entrains water from the Yellow Sea, coastal regions of Japan south of the Tsugaru Strait, the northern, sub-polar waters of the Tsushima Basin and Japan Basin, and finally, coastal regions north of the Tsugaru Strait.