Numerical simulations are compared to field measurements of ocean currents in the Tokara Strait in this work. The Kuroshio Current flows through this strait and an ongoing ocean current turbine device is under development to harness its energy. The usefulness for engineering design input of modeling flow conditions for a large domain in space and time motivates the use of the numerical simulations. Confidence in the accuracy of the simulations can be provided from this comparison to Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) observations during the summer of 2018 at four locations. Numerical simulations of ocean currents which overlap in time with the field observations are presented in an attempt to compare the data on a time-domain basis. The simulations were produced using a Princeton Ocean Model based JCOPE-T-Tokara500 model. The analysis describes the capability of the numerical model to match the flow profile throughout the water column in the time domain and on a statistical basis using histograms and rose diagrams. While instances of speed peaks in the measurement data possibly representing internal waves did not readily appear in the simulation, overall the analysis supports the continued use of simulation current flow for project design input.

在这项工作中，将数值模拟与 Tokara 海峡洋流的现场测量进行了比较。黑潮流经该海峡，正在开发利用其能量的持续洋流涡轮装置。在空间和时间的大域中模拟流动条件的工程设计输入的有用性激发了数值模拟的使用。通过与 2018 年夏季四个地点的声学多普勒电流剖面仪 (ADCP) 观测结果的比较，可以提供对模拟准确性的信心。提出了在时间上与现场观测重叠的洋流的数值模拟，以尝试在时域基础上比较数据。使用基于普林斯顿海洋模型的 JCOPE-T-Tokara500 模型进行模拟。分析描述了数值模型在时域中匹配整个水柱流量剖面的能力，并使用直方图和玫瑰图在统计基础上进行匹配。虽然可能代表内部波的测量数据中的速度峰值实例在模拟中并不容易出现，但总体而言，分析支持继续使用模拟电流进行项目设计输入。