Temperature structure across the Kuroshio before and after typhoon Shirley, Tellus

Two temperature sections across the track of Typhoon Shirley (September 1965) in the vicinity of the Kuroshio are shown. The first is based on observations made less than a week before the storm and the second within two days after its passage. The comparison shows: (1) maximum cooling of more than 3°C directly under the eye of the storm; (2) upwelling of 20-25 m on the seaward side of the eye but very little on the inshore side; (3) a slight increase in the depth of the mixed layer; and (4) some evidence that upwelling continued for at least a day after the storm passed. Heat loss to the atmosphere ia estimated at 1000 to 3000 cal/cm2. From Sept. 2 to Sept. 5, 1965, the R/V Atlan-tis I1 made an oceanographic section across the Kuroshio south of the Japanese island of Shiko-ku (Fig. 1). A bathythermograph (BT) was taken at each station. On Sept. 9 Typhoon no. 6523, also known as Shirley, became a threat and the ship took refuge in Nomi Wan on the south coast of Shikoku. The typhoon passed across Japan early the next day. A very severe storm, Shirley was in its most intense stage when it crossed the area. It was moving northeast at 25 to 30 knots, with surface winds up to 150 knots and a surface low pressure of 936 millibars. Late on Sept. 10 the ship returned to sea. Hourly BTs were taken during the run south and within the next few days four more oceano-graphic stations were occupied. The BT and station data were used to draw temperature sections to a depth of 200 meters before and after the storm (Figs. 2 and 3). A temperature difference section is shown in Fig. 4. The most striking change was under the eye, where the isotherms were humped up sharply and there was a two-and-a-half degree drop in surface temperature. Unfortunately there was no observation directly under the eye, so the height of the hump is partly guesswork. To the north of the eye the surface tempera-ture dropped about one degree but the deeper isotherms were not markedly disturbed. To the south the storm had greater effect, as shown b