白浜海洋観測塔における水温変動について

Abstract

Several types of variation in water temperature are found in the continuous thermogramsobtained at Shirahama Ocenanographic Tower Station. Most of the fluctuations seen inthe summer season are considered to be due to internal waves. The most interesting variationis the quick temperature shift which can be commonly seen throughout the year. It suggeststhat the sea in and near this bay consists of several weak thermal water masses. This situationof the sea is partly supported by the preliminary survey of the horizontal distribution of watertemperature made in the summer of 1963.The net shifts in water temperature which mean the ultimate alternation of water massesare found to occur at intervals of 3 to 16 days. The hypotheticil assun ption that such watermovement is in effect the only process of water exchange between the bay and the open sea istested from the points of view of the heat budget and of the horizontal diffusion.The fluctuations in the daily mean water temperature also have the periods of 3 to 16 days, and can be understood mainly to be associated with the above-mentioned process. Thecausing factor of these phenomena seems to be related to the variations in meteorologicalstate, and the scale or extent of these phenomena is found to be as wide as the whole region ofKu Channel.