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While multiple studies have investigated oxygen decrease in Japan Sea Proper Water (JSPW; > 300 m in depth), oxygen variation in continental slope and shelf waters (−1) by the end of this century.

A continuous survey examined short-term variations in the zooplankton community and physical ocean environment from the northeastern Izu Islands to Boso Peninsula in Japan. High copepod abundance and small upwellings in the surface layer and salinity minimum layer in the subsurface were observed on the north side of coastal fronts in the westernmost transect, moving southward as the Kuroshio Current left the Boso Peninsula. Thus, the salinity minimum layer might be a key factor forming upwelling and the fronts, leading to large abundance of coastal copepods off the northeastern Izu Islands. A community structure analysis of calanoid copepods revealed an intermediate belt assemblage between coastal and offshore (Kuroshio) assemblages. Copepod abundance was remarkably low and Ctenocalanus vanus dominated (nearly 37%) in the intermediate belt zone, indicating that C. vanus has a relatively high tolerance to adverse environments for calanoid copepods. As the Kuroshio Current left the Boso Peninsula, the coastal assemblage expanded in the same direction, and the intermediate belt assemblage off the northeastern Izu Islands disappeared. The largest population of Calanus sinicus was found along the two western transects off the northeastern Izu Islands (>1000 m depth), which was assumed to be transported from Sagami Bay and advanced southwestward while growing from copepodite stages CIII to CV. Larvae of C. sinicus would be an important food for fish larvae in addition to Paracalanus parvus s.l., the numerically dominant species in the coastal assemblage, and C. vanus under the adverse conditions for coastal copepods.

We used an eddy-permitting three-dimensional ocean ecosystem model and applied it in the western North Pacific to understand the seasonal variations and horizontal distributions of the air–sea CO2 flux and difference in the partial pressure between sea water and the atmosphere (∆pCO2). The high-resolution model reproduced the observed zonal belt of strong CO2 uptake in the mid-latitude (30–45°N) western North Pacific including the Kuroshio extension and mixed water regions, which was difficult to show in previous coarse-resolution models. The East Asian winter monsoon, an important phenomenon in the western North Pacific, affects the seasonal CO2 air–sea gas exchange with a high (low) gas transfer coefficient in winter (summer). In the subtropical region, ∆pCO2 is negative in winter and positive in summer as a result of the temperature effect. Combination of seasonal change in gas transfer coefficient with ∆pCO2 suppresses CO2 release in the subtropical region, and vice versa in the subarctic region (i.e., suppresses CO2 uptake). That is, the East Asian winter monsoon in the western North Pacific contributes to the reduction of the annual CO2 flux through the seasonal change in the gas transfer coefficient, leading to an overall annual CO2 uptake in the subtropical region and CO2 release in the subarctic region.

From April 2011 to January 2012, seasonal variation of the aragonite saturation state (Ωar) was observed for the first time in Tokyo Bay, in order to understand the current state of ocean acidification in a highly eutrophicated bay in Japan. Ωar in the bay ranged between 1.55 and 5.12, much greater than observed in offshore waters. At the surface, Ωar was high during summer as a result of photosynthesis with some conflicting effect of freshwater input. At the bottom, Ωar was low during summer due to remineralization of organic matter. Based on an assumption that our observations represent current conditions in Tokyo Bay, it is estimated that the emission of anthropogenic CO2 has already decreased Ωar by 0.6 since the preindustrial period and will further decrease by 1.0–1.6 by the end of this century if emission of CO2 is continued at a high level [representative concentration pathway (RCP) 8.5 scenario]. With other conditions remaining the same, bottom waters of the bay will reach seasonal aragonite undersaturation by 2060–2070. However, because coastal regions have a large interannual variability, we need further observations to evaluate our estimations and future predictions presented here. Nevertheless, it should be safe to say that the larger seasonal variation in Ω causes the Tokyo Bay to reach aragonite undersaturation earlier than offshore regions and such conditions have negative consequences on the variety of calcifying organisms living in Tokyo Bay. Ocean acidification could thus give an additional stress to the ecosystem of the bay, which is now suffering from eutrophication and hypoxia.

Response of phytoplankton to increasing CO2 in seawater in terms of physiology and ecology is key to predicting changes in marine ecosystems. However, responses of natural plankton communities especially in the open ocean to higher CO2 levels have not been fully examined. We conducted CO2 manipulation experiments in the Bering Sea and the central subarctic Pacific, known as high nutrient and low chlorophyll regions, in summer 2007 to investigate the response of organic matter production in iron-deficient plankton communities to CO2 increases. During the 14-day incubations of surface waters with natural plankton assemblages in microcosms under multiple pCO2 levels, the dynamics of particulate organic carbon (POC) and nitrogen (PN), and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and phosphorus (DOP) were examined with the plankton community compositions. In the Bering site, net production of POC, PN, and DOP relative to net chlorophyll-a production decreased with increasing pCO2. While net produced POC:PN did not show any CO2-related variations, net produced DOC:DOP increased with increasing pCO2. On the other hand, no apparent trends for these parameters were observed in the Pacific site. The contrasting results observed were probably due to the different plankton community compositions between the two sites, with plankton biomass dominated by large-sized diatoms in the Bering Sea versus ultra-eukaryotes in the Pacific Ocean. We conclude that the quantity and quality of the production of particulate and dissolved organic matter may be altered under future elevated CO2 environments in some iron-deficient ecosystems, while the impacts may be negligible in some systems.

This paper introduces a new hydrographic climatology of the Okhotsk Sea; this climatology was constructed from the Far Eastern Regional Hydrometeorological Research Institute (FERHRI) database. The FERHRI database has a volume of data three to five times larger than the data used in previous studies because unpublished Russian observation data have been included in the FERHRI database. After removing erroneous data from the database by pertinent quality control methods, the climatology for 1/4° × 1/4° grids is produced by applying objective analysis procedures. Features similar to those in previous studies are seen in the intermediate layers in the Okhotsk Sea, whereas our climatology provides values that fill in gaps in previous climatologies. It is obvious from the monthly climatologies that temperature and salinity distributions evolve in accordance with seasonal variations in the Eastern Sakhalin Current and inflow from the North Pacific. We also reconstructed climatologies for the winter mixed layer and dense shelf water from data obtained from the temperature minimum waters identified as the remnants of these two layers. Free access to the 1° × 1° versions of all climatologies constructed in this study is available through the website.

Seasonal changes in oceanographic conditions related to primary productivity was investigated in the southwestern Okhotsk Sea during non-iced seasons, using the observation data conducted in 2000∼2006. Based on hydrographic characteristics, the studied area could be classified into two regions, the Coastal Region which is influenced under the Soya Warm Current and the Forerunner Water of the Soya Warm Current, and the Offshore Region where the Intermediate Cold Water was located in the subsurface layer. This study is the first report on seasonal change of nutrient and chlorophyll a concentrations in the offshore region of the southwestern Okhotsk Sea. Variability of concentrations of chlorophyll a and nutrients is temporally and regionally high in the Coastal Region. The maximum chlorophyll a concentration in April was observed at the surface layer of both regions. The most remarkable feature on the vertical structure in the Offshore Region was the consistent existence of the Intermediate Cold Water and the development of seasonal thermocline in the subsurface layer during summer and autumn. The stratification formed within the euphotic zone in the Offshore Region resulted in the formation of the subsurface chlorophyll a maximum (SCM) from May to October. Throughout the research period, although less amplitude of nutrients at the surface was observed in the Coastal Region than that in the Offshore Region, comparable amplitude of chlorophyll a concentration was observed between regions. These results suggested differences of environmental conditions for primary production between the two regions. Depending on the presence of SCM, relationships between chlorophyll a concentration at the sea surface and chlorophyll a standing stock within the euphotic layer were different. At most stations with SCM, the surface chlorophyll a concentration was lower than 0.6 mg m-3. This suggests that the presence of SCM and the chlorophyll a standing stock within the euphotic layer may be estimated using the surface chlorophyll a concentration from spring to autumn in the studied area.

In this study we used two stable isotopes, δ13C and δ18O, for water mass classification in the coastal region off eastern Hokkaido. δ13C* values, which were corrected for the biological effect, and δ 18O values up to 300 m depth suggested that the isotopic character of the onshore and offshore water in the southern Okhotsk Sea, the Nemuro Strait and the western North Pacific could be explained by the mixing of three source waters: the Oyashio water (OYW), Soya Warm Current water (SWCW) and East Sakhalin Current water (ESCW). In summer, δ 13C*-δ 18O plots indicated mixing between SWCW from the southern Okhotsk Sea and OYW in the Pacific coast of southeastern Hokkaido, while temperature-salinity plots of the onshore water showed minimal difference from the offshore OYW. In winter, on the other hand, the mixed water of ESCW and OYW (or SWCW) appeared in the Pacific coastal region, distributed as cold, low salinity onshore water. Finally, we estimated mixing ratios of OYW, SWCW and ESCW in the coastal region of western North Pacific using their mean values of δ 13C* and δ 18O as endmembers. These results suggest seasonal and yearly changes of water mass combination en route from the southern Okhotsk Sea to the western North Pacific.

A mesoscale iron-enrichment study (SEEDS II) was carried out in the western subarctic Pacific in the summer of 2004. The iron patch was traced for 26 days, which included observations of the development and the decline of the bloom by mapping with sulfur hexafluoride. The experiment was conducted at almost the same location and the same season as SEEDS (previous iron-enrichment experiment). However, the results were very different between SEEDS and SEEDS II. A high accumulation of phytoplankton biomass (∼18 mg chl m−3) was characteristic of SEEDS. In contrast, in SEEDS II, the surface chlorophyll-a accumulation was lower, 0.8 to 2.48 mg m−3, with no prominent diatom bloom. Photosynthetic competence in terms of Fv/Fm for the total phytoplankton community in the surface waters increased after the iron enrichments and returned to the ambient level by day 20. These results suggest that the photosynthetic physiology of the phytoplankton assemblage was improved by the iron enrichments and returned to an iron-stressed condition during the declining phase of the bloom. Pico-phytoplankton (

To examine whether the regime shift in 1998 that has been variously reported to have occurred in the oceanographic conditions of the central and eastern North Pacific also occurred in the Oyashio region, western North Pacific, we compared data over the period 1990–2003. Oceanographic conditions were compared before 1997 with those after 1998, using the A-line dataset (1990–2003) obtained by the oceanographic surveys of the Hokkaido National Fisheries Research Institute, Fisheries Research Agency (HNFRI/FRA). Seasonal changes of the monthly-mean SST (as temperature in the surface layer) show a significant increase in spring after 1998. After 1998, the mean concentration of chlorophyll a at the surface was higher in spring than that before 1997. This was more remarkable in the main current of the Oyashio. These changes suggest that the spring phytoplankton bloom in the Oyashio region after 1998 was larger in magnitude and initiated earlier. Consumption of nutrients during the spring bloom and standing stock of netplankton also shows a distinct difference between the time period before 1997 and after 1998. These results support the occurrence of the regime shift around 1998 in the Oyashio region. The changes of hydrographical conditions accompanying with the 1998 regime shift are discussed. The hydrographic mechanism of enhancement of primary productivity during the spring phytoplankton bloom was not fully clarified, though. Results in this study may support the usefulness of the A-line dataset for analysis of long-term variability in the western subarctic Pacific.

Eight-year observation results of DIC from 1996 to 2003 in the Oyashio region have been analyzed to obtain a climatological view of its seasonal variation and interannual variation. Data of DIC obtained by several institutes are synthesized to give a dataset with an uncertainty lower than 5 μmol/kg. The obtained climatology of NDIC seasonal variation in the Oyashio mixed layer shows a seasonal amplitude of 176 μmol/kg, with a maximum in January and a minimum in September. These features closely resemble those observed in the southern half of the western subarctic North Pacific (WSNP) including Station KNOT, although the timing of the NDIC maximum is slightly advanced in the case of the Oyashio. Analysis using a quasi-conservative tracer Cp0 (NDIC - 106NP) shows that among 176 μmol/kg of NDIC seasonal variation, only 16 μmol/kg is attributed to hydrographic processes while the remaining 160 μmol/kg is attributed to biological processes. The Cp0 value in the Oyashio mixed layer also resembles that of the WSNP mixed layer during the months May to November, suggesting further resemblance of the Oyashio water mass to that of WSNP in terms of carbon dynamics. The present results also suggest that a single data obtained in Oyashio mixed layer contains 30 μmol/kg of potential uncertainty for the representativity of this region, which leads to a note about a need to treat with caution results obtained by a single observation in this region.

(Received 3 December 2003; in revised form 11 May 2004; accepted 16 May 2004) The dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and related chemical species have been mea- sured from 1992 to 2001 at Station KNOT (44°N, 155°E) in the western North Pacific subpolar region. DIC (1.3~2.3 µmol/kg/yr) and apparent oxygen utilization (AOU, 0.7~1.8 µmol/kg/yr) have increased while total alkalinity remained constant in the intermediate water (26.9~27.3σ θ ). The increases of DIC in the upper intermediate water (26.9~27.1σ σ σ σ σ θ ) were higher than those in the lower one (27.2~27.3 σ θ ). The tem- poral change of DIC would be controlled by the increase of anthropogenic CO 2 , the decomposition of organic matter and the non-anthropogenic CO 2 absorbed at the region of intermediate water formation. We estimated the increase of anthropogenic CO 2 to be only 0.5~0.7 µ µ µ µmol/kg/yr under equilibrium with the atmospheric CO 2 con- tent. The effect of decomposition was estimated to be 0.8 ± 0.7 µ µ µ µmol/kg/yr from AOU increase. The remainder of non-anthropogenic CO 2 had increased by 0.6 ± 1.1 µmol/kg/yr. We suggest that the non-anthropogenic CO 2 increase is controlled by the accumulation of CO 2 liberated back to atmosphere at the region of intermediate wa- ter formation due to the decrease of difference between DIC in the winter mixed layer and DIC under equilibrium with the atmospheric CO 2 content, and the reduction of diapycnal vertical water exchange between mixed layer and pycnocline waters. In future, more accurate and longer time series data will be required to confirm our results.

An analysis of the time series data sets collected from the 1960s to 1990s in the Oyashio Water revealed signs of alteration in the physical, chemical and biological properties of the water column in the western subarctic North Pacific. Wintertime salinity, phosphate concentration and apparent oxygen utilization (AOU) in the subsurface increased linearly over the 30 years. At the same time, salinity and phosphate in the surface mixed layer decreased. An increase in the density gradient in the surface and subsurface suggested that the water column stratification intensified, reducing the vertical exchange of water properties during the period. The Net Community Production (NCP), estimated from the phosphate consumption from February through August, also declined. Water column Chl a was approximately halved and diatoms decreased by one order of magnitude in spring, consistent with the multi-decadal decreasing trend of NCP. Zooplankton biomass was also nearly halved during the same period. In contrast, wintertime Chl a increased by 63% and diatom abundance doubled. Developmental timing became earlier in Neocalanus flemingeri, and spring occurrence of N. plumchrus increased after the 1980s. Reduced vertical water exchange might have limited nutrient supply to the level, decreasing winter-summer NCP for these three decades. It is speculated that, in the meantime, the earlier stabilization of the surface layer might have enhanced wintertime diatom production in the Oyashio's light-limited environment. This condition could allow zooplankton to effectively utilize diatoms from earlier timing, resulting in the apparent early developmental timing and abundance increase.

We present a compilation of apparent oxygen utilization (AOU) changes observed in the upper pycnocline of the North Pacific Ocean over the last several decades. The goal here is to place previously-published data in a common format, and assess the causes of the observed changes. The general trend along repeat cross sections of the eastern and western subtropical ocean and the subarctic ocean is an increase in AOU from the mid 1980s to the mid 1990s. AOU has also been increasing in a time-series study in the northwest subarctic Ocean off of Japan since the late 1960s. Observed AOU changes south of 35°N in the subtropical ocean are 10–20 μmol kg−1, with much greater changes, reaching 60–80 μmol kg−1 in isolated areas, in the subtropical/subarctic boundary and the subarctic ocean. Analysis of changes in both AOU and salinity on isopycnals suggests that there are significant salinity-normalized increases that must be due to alteration in the rate of ventilation or organic matter degradation. A common feature in the data is that the maximum increase in AOU is centered near the density horizon σθ= 26.6. Time series results from the Oyashio Current region near the winter outcrop area of this density horizon indicate that surface waters there have become fresher with time, which may mean this density surface has ceased to outcrop in the latter decades of the 20th century. Whether this is due to natural decadal-scale changes or anthropogenic influences can be decided by determining future trends in AOU on these density surfaces.

To verify the actual usefulness of time-dependent tracer dating techniques in the ocean, we simultaneously obtained two cross sections of sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) and chlrofluoromethanes (CFC-11, trichlorofluoromethane; CFC-12, dichloro-difluromethane; CFC-113, trichlorotrifluoroethane) in the western North Pacific in 1998. The vertical distribution patterns of SF6 and CFC-113 were similar in shape to those of CFC-11 and CFC-12. Maximum penetration depths of SF6 and CFC-113 remained around 800 m in the subpolar region and 400 m in the tropical region, while the maximum penetration depths of CFC-11 and CFC-12 were still found below 1000 m depth. We also found all maximum contents of these tracers around 26.6−26.8σθ with a gradual decrease southward. This suggested that a new subsurface water mass in the subpolar region spread out over the entire North Pacific, which agrees closely with previous studies based on the salinity minimum. Moreover, we compared the tracer ages (the elapsed period of a water mass from when the water mass left from the ocean surface) using ten time-dependent tracer dating techniques, CFC-11, CFC-12, CFC-113, SF6, CFC-11/CFC-12, CFC-113/CFC-11, CFC-113/CFC-12, SF6/CFC-11, SF6/CFC-12 and SF6/CFC-113. This quantitative evaluation of multiple tracer dating techniques in the ocean was the first confirmation of its usefulness based on the observational data on the ocean basin-wide scale. We conclude that SF6/CFC-11, SF6/CFC-12, SF6/CFC-113 and SF6 dating techniques would be the most promising tools for determining the age of water mass not only just for the past several decades but for the future, too.

The annual transport of anthropogenic carbon (C anth ) to the North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW) from the Western Subarctic Gyre (WSG) has been re-estimated by using newly estimated Oyashio transport and C anth concentration, the latter calculated by the recently-established “∆ C*” method with some modifications. Estimated annual C anth transport through the nearshore Oyashio west of 146°E was 0.020 ± 0.010 GtC y ‐1 , closely approximating the previous estimation based on a 1-D model calibrated with the CFC vertical distribution. The present study, however, found that an additional 0.025 ± 0.010 GtC y ‐1 of C anth was transported into NPIW in the region east of 146°E. Total C anth transport, 0.045 GtC y ‐1 , contributes about 35% of annual C anth accumulation of the whole temperate North Pacific.

Keywords: ⋅exDIC, ⋅CFCs, ⋅NPIW, ⋅transport, ⋅K/O zone. Vertical distribution of anthropogenic carbon content of the water (exDIC) in the Oyashio area just outside of the Kuroshio/Oyashio Interfrontal Zone (K/O Zone) was estimated by the simple 1-D advection-diffusion model calibrated by the distribution of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). The average concentration of exDIC for σ θ = 26.60- 27.00 is multiplied by the volume transport of Oyashio water into the North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW) to estimate the annual transport of exDIC into NPIW through K/O Zone. The estimated transport of exDIC was 0.018-0.020 GtC/y, which corresponds to 15% of the whole total exDIC accumulation in the temperate North Pacific. A simple assessment using the NPIW 1-box model indicates that the current study explains at least 70% of the total annual transport of exDIC into NPIW, and that small exDIC sources for NPIW still exists in addition to K/O Zone.

An intensive survey has been conducted of the distributions of some chemical properties (dissolved oxygen, nutrients and carbonate properties) in the Kuroshio/Oyashio Interfrontal Zone. Many low-salinity water patches were found down to depths of 640 m. Each chemical property also showed anomalies in these patches, but the degree of variation showed a low correlation with salinity. This may be due to the high variability of biological processes in the surface waters where these patches are formed. Vertical profiles of the chemical properties were also observed along the Kuroshio extension axis from 140.50°E to 146.75°E. The concentrations of nutrients and total carbonate (TC) in the water having densities greater than σθ=26.60 can be regarded as being formed by the isopycnal mixing of the Kuroshio component water and Oyashio component water and biological degradation within the density surfaces. This implies that the transport of chemical properties by the diapycnal mixing is negligible in these density layers in the K/O zone.

Partial pressure of CO2 in surface sea water (pCO2) was measured continuously off Sanriku in May, 1997 by a new pCO2 measurement system. We have examined the relation of pCO2 to physical factors such as temperature, salinity and density, chemical and biological factors such as nutrients and carbonate system and chlorophylla. In the Kuroshio region pCO2 was not correlated to physical, chemical and biological factors in the range of 260 to 290 μatom. In transition water (Tr1) between Kuroshio and the Oyashio second branch, pCO2 was weakly correlated to physical factors and strongly correlated to nutrients. In transition water (Tr2) between the Oyashio first and second branches, pCO2 was highly correlated to temperature (SD: 10.9 μatom) and salinity (SD: 8.6 μatom) and also to nutrients. In transition water (Tr1+Tr2), pCO2 was highly multivariately correlated to temperature (T), salinity (S), chlorophylla (CH) (or nitrate+nitrite (N)) as follows, pCO2(μatom)= 10.8×T(°C)+27.7×S+2.57CH(μg/1) −769, R2= 0.86, SD = 20.9, or pCO2(μatom)= 3.9×T(°C)+25.5×S+16.0NO3(μM) −686, R2= 0.99, SD = 6.4. Moreover, pCO2 was predicted by only two factors, one physical (S) and the other chemical/biological (N) as follows: pCO2 (μatom)=32.8×S+19.4N−908, R2=0.97, SD=8.4. The pH measured at 25°C was well correlated with normalized pCO2 at a fixed temperature. In the Oyashio region pCO2 was decreased to 160 μatom, probably because of spring bloom, but was not correlated linearly to chlorophylla. The results obtained showed the possibility of estimating pCO2 of the Oyashio and transition regions in May by satellite remote sensing of SST, but the problem of estimation of pCO2 in Kuroshio water remains to be solved.

In the central part of the East China Sea, the activity of CO2 in the surface water and total carbonate, pH and alkalinity in the water column were determined in winter and autumn of 1993. The activity of CO2 in the continental shelf water was about 50 ppm lower than that of surface air. This decrease corresponds to the absorption of about 40 gC/m2/yr of atmospheric CO2 in the coastal zone or 1 GtC/yr in the global continental shelf, if this rate is applicable to entire coastal seas. The normalized total carbonate contents were higher in the water near the coast and near the bottom. This increase toward the bottom may be due to the organic matter deposited on the bottom. This conclusion is supported by the distribution of pH. The normalized alkalinity distribution also showed higher values in the near-coast water, but in the surface water, indicating the supply of bicarbonate from river water. The residence time of the East China Sea water, including the Yellow Sea water, has been calculated to be about 0.8 yr from the excess alkalinity and the alkalinity input. Using this residence time and the excess carbonate, we can estimate that the amount of dissolved carbonate transported from the coastal zone to the oceanic basin is about 70 gC/m2/yr or 2 GtC/yr/area-of-global-continental-shelf. This also means that the rivers transport carbon to the oceans at a rate of 30 gC/m2/yr of the coastal sea or 0.8 GtC/yr/ area-of-global shelf, the carbon consisting of dissolved inorganic carbonate and terrestrial organic carbon decomposed on the continental shelf.

Sea water samples were collected from various depths in the North Pacific (40‐ 21°N) along 165°E in 1991. Their total carbonate (total dissolved carbonate species) contents were determined with random errors less than 0.2% by a coulometric method. The preformed carbonate contents defined by Chen (1982) were calculated from the obtained data and other observed data including potential temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen and total alkalinity. The same calculation was done for the GEOSECS data obtained in nearly the same region in 1973. The difference between the two data sets reveals that the preformed carbonate has increased by 180 ± 41 gC/m 2 during the last 18 years. This value is comparable or somewhat larger than 150 gC/m 2 obtained in the case that the ocean uptakes 3 GtC/yr for 18 years and distributes it equally among the world oceans. Based on the results, a hypothesis on the missing sink for the anthropogenic carbon dioxide is presented, in that the missing sink is the intermediate waters formed in the northern North Pacific and the Southern Ocean besides the deep waters formed in the North Atlantic and the Southern Ocean.