Tomio Asai

A Theoretical Study of the Compensating Downward Motions Associated with Cumulus Clouds

Abstract An attempt is made to investigate theoretically the controlling influence of compensating downward motions on the development of cumulus clouds and the size of the cloudless areas associated with them. The model consists of two circular concentric air columns, the inside column corresponding to the updraft (cloud) region and the outside concentric annular column to the downward motion region. The combined cell is surrounded by the atmospheric at rest. The governing equations of both the updraft and the compensating downward motion are derived from the conservation equations of momentum, heat, moisture and mass. The differential equations are solved numerically to compute the vertical velocity, temperature, specific humidity and liquid water content in and out of the cloud as functions of height and time. Two experiments were performed with and without the effect of compensating downward motion. The main conclusions are the following: Without the effect of the compensating motion, the structure of...

Observation of temperature and velocity from a surface buoy moored in the Shikoku Basin (OMLET-88) —An oceanic response to a Typhoon

A surface buoy was moored from 20 April to 2 November 1988 at 28°48′ N and 135°01′ E where the water depth was 4900 m to measure temperature and velocity in the upper 150 m. The Typhoon 8824 passed at 0300 (JST) on 8 October about 50 km north to the mooring station with a maximum wind speed of 43.5 m s−1. The buoy was shifted about 30 km to southwest, and the instruments were damaged. The records of temperature at 0.5 m and velocity at 50 m were obtained. The inertial oscillation caused by the typhoon is described using the current record. The oscillation endured for about 20 days. Deep mixing and vertical, heart transport by the typhoon are discussed based on the data from the Ocean Data Buoy of the Japan Meteorological Agency moored at 29°N and 135°E.

Long-term variations of cyclone activities in East Asia

A statistical analysis is made of the temporal and spatial variability of cyclone activities in middle latitudes in East Asia for 52 years during the period from 1934 to 1985.Three principal tracks of cyclones are distinguished in East Asia almost all year around except for the disappearance of the south one in summer.A longer-term variation in frequency of cyclones passing over the Japanese Islands with a period of about 20 years is found, in addition to a shorter-term variation with a period of a few years. A significant decreasing trend in cyclone frequency is noted between the late 1960s to around 1980.

Variability of Upper Ocean Heat Balance in the Shikoku Basin during the Ocean Mixed Layer Experiment (OMLET)

The heat balance of the surface layer in the vicinity of the former Ocean Weather Station “Tango” (OWS-T; 29°N, 135°E), where a large amount of heat is transported by the Kuroshio and transferred to the atmosphere, was studied by during Ocean Mixed Layer Experiment (OMLET) as an oceanographic component of the Japanese World Climate Research Program (1987–1991). Temperature and velocity in the upper ocean measured using a surface moored buoy system deployed by the Ocean Research Institute, the University of Tokyo, in total 668 days of four time series namely the periods of April 1988–November 1988 (OMELET-88), August 1989–February 1990 (OMLET-89), April 1990–September 1990 (OMLET-901) and September 1990–January 1991 (OMLET-902). We have analyzed the moored buoy data of the upper 100 m for the latter three time series (OMLET-89, -901 and -902) and here we discuss the heat balance of the upper 100 m, in combination with surface heat flux and oceanographic data provided by the Japan Meteorological Agency. A large fluctuation of oceanic heat convergence/divergence of 200–300 W/m2 in amplitude with predominant period of 20–30 days occurred in the first half of OMLET-89 period, which was just the early stage in the formation process of a large meander path of the Kuroshio. A large amount of heat convergence of 71 and 79 W/m2 on average was detected in observation period of OMLET-89 and -901, respectively. During OMLET-902, relatively small heat convergence of 13 W/m2 was obtained. It is suggested that these variations of oceanic heat convergence in this region were closely related to the fluctuation of the Kuroshio axis to the south of Japan.

Heat balance of the upper ocean under a land and sea breeze in Sagami Bay in summer

The heat balance of the upper ocean under a land and sea breeze was investigated based on observations of sea water temperature in the upper 300 m layer and heat flux across the sea surface at a fixed station in Sagami Bay (35‡10′N, 139‡25′E) during two periods of two days in August 1980 and three days in August 1981. During both periods, a typical land and sea breeze of 4–6 m sec−1 at maximum prevailed in the observation area. Large diurnal variation of sea surface temperature with a maximum peak around noon LST was observed during both periods (the daily value of the range was 0.9‡C and 2.5‡C in 1980, and 1.2‡C, 1.5‡C and 1.7‡C in 1981). It was found that these large temperature variations were caused by diurnal variation of the wind speed which dropped to 0–3 m sec−1 at noon when the strongest insolation (−270 Wm−2) penetrated the sea and at midnight in association with alternations of the land breeze and the sea breeze. On the other hand, vertical mixing of the sea water caused by the wind stress and/or convection due to cooling at night extended down only to the surface 10 m layer. Horizontal heat advection was negligibly small. Therefore the local time change of the heat content in the upper 10 m water column was affected mainly by the heat flux across the air-sea interface which was estimated from data on radiation fluxes measured directly on board and latent and sensible heat fluxes calculated by the aerodynamic bulk method. The water temperature below the 10 m layer also varied with time and the temperature variation in the thermocline (20–50 m depth) was frequently larger than that of the sea surface temperature. However, the variation in the upper 10 m layer was little influenced by that below the layer.

Activities of the Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo and Its Future Development

The Ocean Research Institute (ORI), University of Tokyo, was founded in 1962 for the promotion of basic and comprehensive research on marine sciences and currently has 16 research divisions in the Nakano campus, Tokyo and a shore laboratory, the Otsuchi Marine Research Center, Iwate Prefecture, covering physical and chemical oceanography, meteorology, geology, geophysics, marine biology, and fisheries sciences. The Institute operates two research vessels, the Tansei-Maru in the seas adjacent to the Japanese Islands and the Hakuho-Maru in the world oceans. These facilities are open to the use of marine scientists throughout Japan.