Fig. 2 Sea and Air Temperatures (February and March 1998)
Fig. 3 Monthly mean air and sea temperatures
The monthly mean sea and air temperatures showed these results directly in Figure 3. The sea temperature took the minimum in March and the maximum in July. The minimum sea temperature was lower in 1997 rather than in 1993. On the other hand, the monthly mean air temperature of March recorded the minimum in 1993 rather than in 1997 as shown in Figure 3b. The air temperature took the minimum in February and the maximum in June. The air temperature changed one month in advance to the sea temperature.
The discrepancy between the changes of air and sea temperatures required to consider a relation with the large scale phenomena, Monsoon and ENSO. The air temperature was greatly affected by the Monsoon. The sea temperature was related to the El Nino and Tropical Ocean.
SST in the North West Pacific Ocean
Japan Meteorological Agency issued Monthly and ten days mean SST in the North-West Pacific Ocean every month. The SST zone between 25℃ and 26℃ moved northward from the south of Oki-no-Tori Sima to the Sea of Japan and the Pacific coastline of the mainland of Japan in spring and summer. On the other hand, the zone moves down to the south in fall and winter. The south limit was determined by the strength of the Winter Monsoon and Tropical SST Oki-no-Tori Sima was just located at the south limit where was the sensitive region to both the Winter Monsoon and Tropical SST.
