Surface thermal fronts of the Okhotsk Sea

• Main Authors: I. M. Belkin, P. C. Cornillon
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2004
• Subjects: Kashevarov Bank; Okhotsk; TINRO Basin; Kamchatka; okhotsk sea; Sakhalin
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.474.7859; http://po.gso.uri.edu/poweb/PCC/pcornillon/2004-Belkin.pdf

The Pathfinder AVHRR sea surface temperature (SST) data from 1985–1996 were processed with the Cayula-Cornillon edge detection and declouding algorithms. The following 11 fronts were distinguished: West Kamchatka, TINRO Basin, North and South Shelikhov Bay, North, West, Shantar, East Sakhalin, Central, Kashevarov Bank and Soya fronts. The large-scale pattern of these fronts is consistent with the dominant cyclonic circulation of the Okhotsk Sea. The West Front, TINRO Basin Front, Central Front and Shelikhov Bay Fronts have not been identified before. The West Kamchatka and TINRO Basin fronts form a double front observed in winter only. The North Front continues farther west than it was known, up to 146°E, where it likely connects to the West Front, which often joins the Shantar Front. The latter extends from Shantar Islands to Sakhalin Bay where the Amur River Plume interrupts a nearly continuous line of fronts around the northern and western Okhotsk Sea. The Amur discharge feeds the East Sakhalin Front that follows the shelf break, branches eastward at 48°N and 46°N, and eventually merges with Soya Front, which exits the sea via Vries Strait. The 48°N branch of the East Sakhalin Front seems to join the Central Front, which in turn merges with the TINRO Basin Front, thus forming the southern limb of the sea-wide frontal pattern. The Kashevarov Bank Front likely consists of three separate fronts around the namesake bank, St. Iona Island and Iona Bank. Fronts are seasonally persistent: they emerge and disappear in certain seasons in the same locations. Dominant frontogenetic mechanisms in the Okhotsk Sea are tidal mixing, water mass formation and advection, river discharge, and wind upwelling. Most fronts are generated owing to tidal mixing. Front genesis in the marginal ice zone and around polynyas is likely important; although these processes have not yet been investigated by in situ measurements.