Recent Advances in Japanese Fisheries Science in the Kuroshio-Oyashio Region through Development of the FRA-ROMS Ocean Forecast System: Overview of the Reproducibility of Reanalysis Products

To address various fisheries science problems around Japan, the Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency (FRA) has developed an ocean forecast system by combining an ocean circulation model based on the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) with three-dimensional variational analysis schemes. This system, which is called FRA-ROMS, is a basic and essential tool for the systematic conduct of fisheries science. The main aim of FRA-ROMS is to realistically simulate mesoscale variations over the Kuroshio-Oyashio region. Here, in situ oceanographic and satellite data were assimilated into FRA-ROMS using a weekly time window. We first examined the reproducibility through comparison with several oceanographic datasets with an Eulerian reference frame. FRA-ROMS was able to reproduce representative features of mesoscale variations such as the position of the Kuroshio path, variability of the Kuroshio Extension, and southward intrusions of the Oyashio. Second, using a Lagrangian reference frame, we estimated position errors between ocean drifters and How to cite this paper: Kuroda, H., Setou, T., Kakehi, S., Ito, S., Taneda, T., Azumaya, T., Inagake, D., Hiroe, Y., Morinaga, K., Okazaki, M., Yokota, T., Okunishi, T., Aoki, K., Shimizu, Y., Hasegawa, D. and Watanabe, T. (2017) Recent Advances in Japanese Fisheries Science in the Kuroshio-Oyashio Region through Development of the FRA-ROMS Ocean Forecast System: Overview of the Reproducibility of Reanalysis Products. Open Journal of Marine Science, 7, 62-90. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojms.2017.71006 Received: October 2, 2016 Accepted: December 10, 2016 Published: December 13, 2016