Effects of the Wind and Ice Conditions on Upwelling along Western Kamchatka Coast (Sea of Okhotsk) According to Satellite Data
The variability of upwelling events along the western coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula (north-eastern part of the Sea of Okhotsk) has been studied based on analysis of the multi-sensor satellite data. The intensity of upwelling is determined by offshore Ekman transport (upwelling index) induced by wind. Wind product for studing seasonal variation of upwelling was obtained from QuikSCAT/SeaWinds scatterometer measurements collected between 1999 and 2009. The upwelling events along the western Kamchatka coast occur in December during at the beginning of a winter monsoon period. During the period of strong winter monsoon northern winds from January to the middle of March under average conditions the drifting ice prevents upwelling of the deep water at the western Kamchatka shelf edge. Oceanographic data show that in the western coastal zone of Kamchatka the upwelling was observed during transitional periods between winter and summer monsoon period (April). In the summer the rare upwelling events take place in August. The main contributors to the summer upwelling in this region were low pressure atmospheric cyclonic systems that passed through the Kamchatka Peninsula.