4. Temporal Variation of the Kii Bifurcation Current in the Period from December 3 to 4, 1997 (Cruise IV)
It was very stormy, and a very strong northwesterly wind of more than 15 m/s prevailed on December 2 and in the morning of December 3, 1997. The wind speed decreased a little in the afternoon of December 3, and we could conduct only one series of repeated observation along the standard line (Cruise IV: see its details for Table 1). The current profiles of 10 repeated runs, IV-A(1) through IV-A(10), are shown in Fig.9 for two depths, 5 m and 65 m. The onshore current components at 65 m depth differ considerably from to those at 5 m depth (they show a different sign at many observed points), but the alongshore components appear to be almost identical at two depths although the magnitude of the currents at 65 m depth is generally less than that at 5 m depth.
The alongshore and onshore components averaged for each 1 km segment along the standard line at 5 m depth are shown in Fig.10 in the same way as in Fig.6. The current directions are eastward in the whole analyzed region for the first six runs (IV-A(1) through IV-A(6)). These patterns would be classified into the Eastward Current according to Takeuchi et al. (1998a). The Kii Bifurcation Current is recognized in the last four runs (IV-A(1) through IV-A(6)).
