Open AccessChaotic Behaviors in the Response of a Quasigeostrophic Oceanic Double Gyre to Seasonal External Forcing
Author(s) -
Shinya Shimokawa,
Takeshi Matsuura
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of physical oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.706
H-Index - 143
eISSN - 1520-0485
pISSN - 0022-3670
DOI - 10.1175/2010jpo4400.1
Subject(s) - ocean gyre , forcing (mathematics) , amplitude , climatology , mixed layer , entrainment (biomusicology) , intermittency , environmental science , atmospheric sciences , typhoon , geology , physics , mechanics , subtropics , turbulence , rhythm , quantum mechanics , fishery , acoustics , biology
In an oceanic double-gyre system, nonlinear oscillations of the ocean under seasonally changing external forcing are investigated using a 1.5-layer quasigeostrophic model and a simple model related to energy balance of the oceanic double gyre. In the experiments, the variable parameter is the amplitude of external seasonal forcing and the Reynolds number is fixed as 39, at which periodic shedding of inertial subgyres occurs. The authors found that entrainment (at 2 times the period of the forcing) and intermittency (on–off type), phenomena that are often seen in nonlinear systems, emerge with increasing amplitude of the forcing. They seem to be related to the generation mechanism and characteristics of long-term (from interannual to decadal) variations in the strong current region of subtropical gyres such as the Kuroshio and its extension region.