Figure 14

Seasonal and temporal variations of water masses. (a) Seasonal variation in the vertical distribution of water masses and area-averaged simulated temperatures over Funka Bay. The temperature contour interval is 1°C. The letters indicate the six water masses: the Tsugaru warm current water system (TW), the Oyashio water system (OW), the warm low-salinity Funka Bay water that formed during the summer (FS), the cold dense Funka Bay water that formed during the winter (FW) (Hanawa and Mitsudera [1986]; Ohtani [1981]), the OW surface waters that were warmed mainly by sea-surface heating (S-OW; Rosa et al. [2007]), and all other water, which is defined as mixed water (MW). These water masses were classified using the T-S diagram for this study (see Figure Three of Nakada et al. [2013a]). The colors indicate percentages of each water mass occupying the water volume at each depth. (b) Temporal variations of water mass volumes in the bay.