Numerical Simulation of Wintertime Mesoscale Eddies in the East China Sea

INTRODUCTIONAnimportantachievementofoceanographysincethe 1960swasthediscoveryofmesoscaleed dieswithspatialscaleofhundredsofmeters,andtimescaleofhours;andaverageflowvelocityofabout 10cm s.Theenormousenergyofthemesoscaleeddyiscomparabletothatofacycloneoran ticycloneintheatmosphere .Themesoscaleeddyisoneoftheimportantfactorsthatdecidethechangeoftheocean .Intherecentdecades,ChineseandforeignscientistshavedonelotsofworkontheEastChinaSeasmesoscaleeddies,theformationmechanismofwhicharethefocuso…

Numerical simulation of wintertime mesoscale eddies in the East China Sea

A POM based three-dimension baroclinic prognostic model in σ-coordinate was established to simulate the eddies in the East China Seas wintertime circulation, considering the topography, inflow and outflow on the open boundary, Changjiang runoff, heat, flux, and wind stress on the sea surface. The model results showed that three branches separate from the Kuroshio flow toward the interior of the Yellow Sea, and form three eddies respectively. The middle eddy is centered at 124°37′E, 37°00′N, the southern eddy is centered at 124°00′E, 35°30′N. The large cyclonic eddy centered at 125°06′E, 30°30′N and located southwest of Cheju Island is a closed structure formed by the northeastward flowing Taiwan Warm Current, northwestward flowing Yellow Sea Warm Current and southward flowing coastal current. The Kuroshio intrusion engenders an eddy west of Kyushu Island of Japan. The branching of the Kuroshio is the direct dynamic cause of the formation of this large eddy. Moreover, both the topographic influence and the northward wind prevailing in winter affect the eddy's formation obviously. This research was supported by the Scientific Foundation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KZCX-202); and by a Major State Basic Research Program (G1999043803).