Surface current pattern characteristics in the east sea of Enshu

Daily surface current patterns were investigated with VHF ocean radar in the sea off Enshu where unsteady currents are dominant. As the result of evaluating ocean radar measurement accuracy, the surface currents detected by ocean radar coincided well with that of electromagnetic current-meter at stationary point and that measured by GPS drifting buoys. By an analysis of self-organizing maps, it is found that west current pattern in autumn and southeast current pattern in winter are dominant respectively with both average speed of 19 cm/s and both current patterns are strongly associated with the seasonal wind patterns. As a result of investigating horizontal current shear in offshore direction with an electromagnetic current-meter and ocean radar, nearshore current 1 km off the coast changes discontinuously against offshore current on the continental shelf. (author)