The Subpolar Front of the Japan/East Sea. Part II: Inverse Method for Determining the Frontal Vertical Circulation

Abstract

An inverse method for inferring vertical velocities from high-resolution hydrographic/velocity surveys is formulated and applied to observations collected at the subpolar front of the Japan/East Sea (JES) taken during several cold-air outbreaks. The method is distinct from vertical velocity inferences based on the omega equation in that the driving mechanism for the ageostrophic flow is inferred rather than assumed and hence is particularly appropriate for application to wind- or buoyancy-forced upper-ocean currents where friction, mixing, inertial/superinertial motions, or higher-order effects can contribute along with shear/strain of the geostrophic flow to force vertical motions. The inferred vertical circulation at the subpolar front of the JES has amplitudes O(100 m day?1) compared to the ?20 m day?1 vertical velocities predicted by the omega equation. Time-dependent, near-inertial motions driven by the winds and modified by the vertical vorticity of the frontal jet appear to be the primary cause of the strong vertical motions. The strongest vertical motions are associated with submesoscale, O(5 km), frontal downdrafts that tend to align with the slanted isopycnal surfaces of the front and advect water with low salinity and high chlorophyll fluorescence down the dense side of the front.