A04-8 Model development and impact assessment for ocean circulation, marine material cycles and climate by incorporating the effect of oceanic vertical mixing

   Research Summary

In this group, we have two major goals. First is to reveal the three-dimensional structure of the North Pacific circulation induced by ocean mixing and to understand its influence on the climate. Second is to describe the materials cycles in the North Pacific under the influences of physical transport and biogeochemical processes. Toward the first goal, we are to construct a sophisticated numerical model for the North Pacific which can adequately represent the role of mixing, to reveal the three-dimensional structure of the North Pacific circulation which cannot be obtained solely by observational and theoretical studies, and to assess the influence of localized long-term variations of mixing on the climate. Toward the second goal, we are to introduce a novel way of modeling biogeochemical processes into the circulation model, to reveal the three-dimensional materials cycles which sustain the biological productivity of the North Pacific, and to assess the oceanic carbon dioxide absorption and acidification by precisely representing the behavior of the carbonate system.

In achieving these goals, we are to answer the following questions:

• Where in the North Pacific does the deep water coming from Antarctica upwell and how does the upwelled water return?
• How are the localized variations of ocean mixing linked to the Pacific-wide variations of the ocean and the climate?
• How are the nutrients in the deep Pacific supplied to the region of high biological productivity?
• By what path is the carbon dioxide absorbed at the North Pacific sea surface, as a result of high biological productivity, stored in the ocean, and how does the consequent ocean acidification take place?

   Members

Principal investigator : Hiroyasu HASUMI
(Professor, Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, Ocean modeling)
http://ccsr.aori.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~hasumi/

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Co-investigator : Hiroaki TATEBE
(Senior research scientist, Department of Integrated Climate Change Projection Research, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Climate modeling)
http://www.jamstec.go.jp/j/

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Co-investigator : Yoshiki KOMURO
(Unit leader, Institute of Arctic Climate and Environment Research, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Physical oceanography)

Co-investigator : Yoshimasa MATSUMURA
(Assistant professor, Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, Physical oceanography)

Collaborator : Takao KAWASAKI
(Project researcher, National Institute of Polar Research, Physical oceanography)
http://researchmap.jp/takaokawasaki

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Collaborator : Shogo URAKAWA
(Researcher, Meteorological Research Institute, Japan Meteorological Agency, Physical Oceanography)
http://researchmap.jp/l.shogo.urakawa

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