Sea of Japan

Project

The COAMPS forecasts have been valuable at providing general ducting characteristics over several regions of interest.  Averages of the 3D refractivity field from month-long series of 12-hr forecasts have illuminated patterns and variability in ducting conditions associated with complex mesoscale interactions. These forecasts reveal sensitivity to intricacies of the coastal topography/land-sea boundary, inhomogeneity in the surface forcing, and changes in the prevailing wind direction.      

Results

Around the Korean peninsula, preferred regions of ducting during winter and summer are assessed from averages of COAMPS forecasts for May/June 1999 and January/February 2000.  In winter for example, the EM trapping layers that occur ~10-20 % of the time over the Yellow Sea, East China Sea and far western Pacific (Fig. 1) develop below post-frontal cold, dry air advecting over the warmer waters of the Kurishio current while ducting occurs less than 1% of the time in the Sea of Japan.