Abstract. This paper describes the results of studying the waves in the southern part of the Sea of Okhotsk on the sea routes between Sakhalin and Iturup islands by means of autonomous wave recorders. The study was performed in order to improve the safety of the maritime transport system. Analysis of the wave regime and weather conditions in the southern part of the Sea of Okhotsk, has shown that a cyclone of any direction approaching the southern part of the Sea of Okhotsk, causes sea waves with heights of more than 1.7 meters in the considered water area and nearshore of Iturup Island. However, if a cyclone approaches Sakhalin Island from the northwest direction, the height of wind waves and swell in the coastal area of the southeast of the island is small, and here is an opportunity for ships to take shelter from the storm. The analysis of long waves with tidal harmonic periods of 4 hours and more has shown, that they have almost the same oscillation phase for both islands. The internal waves caused by the local features of bathymetry and relief of the coastal zone for each adjacent water area are analyzed. Surface gravitational waves with a period of about 2.8 hours were detected at Kuibyshevsky and Kurilsky bays, and waves with a period of 2.4 hours were detected near the Okhotskoye village at Sakhalin Island. It is shown that the highest Q-factor in the Kurilsk region has the resonant water area for the periods of 4.5 minutes. It is noted that for these waves the phenomenon of a tyagun (harbour oscillations) can be expected during a storm at sea.

For citation: Kovalev D.P., Kovalev P.D., Borisov A.S., Kirillov K.V. Wave characteristics in the southern part of the Sea of Okhotsk – the area of water transport routes to the southern Kuril Islands. Geosistemy perehodnykh zon = Geosystems of Transition Zones, 2021, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 328–338. (In Russ., abstr. in Engl.).
https://doi.org/10.30730/gtrz.2021.5.4.328-338

Для цитирования: Ковалев Д.П., Ковалев П.Д., Борисов А.С., Кириллов К.В. Особенности волнения в южной части Охотского моря – акватории маршрутов водного транспорта к южным Курильским островам. Геосистемы переходных зон, 2021, т. 5, № 4, с. 328–338.
https://doi.org/10.30730/gtrz.2021.5.4.328-338

1. Dobrovol’skiy A.D., Zalogin B.S. 1982. Morya SSSR [Seas of the USSR]. M.: MGU Publ., 192 p.

2. Zernov N.V., Karpov V.G. 1972. Teoriya radiotekhnicheskikh tsepey [Theory of radioelectric circuits]. Leningrad: Energiya, 816 p.

3. Kochin N.E., Kibel’ I.A., Roze N.V. 1963. Teoreticheskaya gidromekhanika [Theoretical hydromechanics] . Pt 1. 6th ed. Moscow: Gos. izd-vo fiz.-mat. lit., 583 p.

4. Lotsiya Okhotskogo morya [Sailing directions of Sea of Okhotsk]. 2011. Kniga 1406, Iss. 1, 57 p. URL:http://parusa.narod.ru/bib/books/fareast/1406-1.htm

5. Rabinovich A.B. 1993. Dlinnye gravitatsionnye volny v okeane: zakhvat, rezonans, izluchenie [Long ocean gravity waves: Trapping, resonance, and leaking]. Saint Petersburg: Hydrometeoizdat, 325 p.

6. Raykhlen F. 1970. [Harbor resonance]. In: Gidrodinamika beregovoy zony i estuariev. Leningrad, p. 114–166. (Transl. from English: A.T. Ippen (ed.). Estuary and coastline hydrodynamics. New York: ?McGraw-Hill Comp., 1966).

7. Colosi J.A., Beardsley R.C., Lynch J.F., Gawarkiewicz G., Chiu C.S., Scotti A. 2001. Observations of nonlinear internal waves on the outer New England continental shelf during the summer https://doi.org/10.1029/2000jc900124 shelf break primer study. J. of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 106(C5): 9587–9601. https://doi.org/10.1029/2000jc900124

8. Darelius E., Smedsrud L.H., Osterhus S., Foldvik A., Gammelsrod T. 2009. Structure and variability of the Filchner overflow plume. Tellus A, 61(3): 446–464. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0870.2009.00391.x

9. Duda T.F., Lynch J.F., Irish J.D., Beardsley R.C., Ramp S.R., Chiu C.S., Tang T.Y., Yang Y.-J. 2004. Internal tide and nonlinear internal wave behavior at the continental slope in the northern South China Sea. IEEE J. of Oceanic Engineering, 29(4): 1105–1130. https://doi.org/10.1109/joe.2004.836998

10. Giese G.S., Hollander R.B. 1987. The relationship between coastal seiches at Palawan Island and tide-generated internal waves in the Sulu Sea. J. Geophysical Research: Oceans, 92: 5151–5156. https://doi.org/10.1029/jc092ic05p05151

11. Kovalev D.P., Kovalev P.D., Squire V.A. 2020. Crack formation and breakout of shore fast sea ice in Mordvinova Bay, south-east Sakhalin Island. Cold Regions Science and Technology, 175: 103082. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coldregions.2020.103082

12. Kovalev P.D., Squire V.A. 2020. Ocean wave/sea ice interactions in the south-eastern coastal zone of Sakhalin Island. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 238: 106725. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2020.106725

13. Lee C.Y., Beardsley R.C. 1974. Generation of long nonlinear internal waves in a weakly stratified shear-flow. J. of Geophysical Research, 79(3): 453–462. https://doi.org/10.1029/jc079i003p00453

14. Levine M.D., Paulson C.A., Morison J.H. 1985. Internal waves in the Arctic Ocean – Comparison with lower-latitude observations. J. of Physical Oceanography, 15: 800–809. https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0485(1985)015<0800:iwitao>2.0.co;2

15. Parker B.B. 2007. Tidal analysis and prediction. NOAA Special Publication NOS CO-OPS 3, 378 p.

16. Polton J.A., Smith J.A., MacKinnon J.A., Tejada-Martinez A.E. 2008. Rapid generation of high-frequency internal waves beneath a wind and wave forced oceanic surface mixed layer. Geophysical Research Letters, 35(13602): 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1029/2008gl033856

17. Rabinovich A.B. 2009. Seiches and harbour oscillations. In: Kim Y.C. (ed.) Handbook of coastal and ocean engineering. Singapore: World Scientific, p. 193–236. doi:10.1142/9789812819307_0009

18. Squire V.A., Kovalev P.D., Kovalev D.P., Zarochintsev V.S. 2021. On the trapping of energy from storm surges on the coasts of the Sea of Okhotsk. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 250: 107136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2020.107136

19. Zakharchuk E.A. 1999. Internal waves in the Laptev Sea. In: Land-Ocean Systems in the Siberian Arctic Dynamics and History. Springer, p. 43–51.