Characteristics of mesoscale eddies in South China Sea

doi:10.7523/j.issn.2095-6134.2016.01.015

Abstract

Abstract:

A dataset of mesoscale eddies from October 1992 to April 2012 is used to study eddies in South China Sea (SCS). Eddies mainly generate along northeast-southwest direction in SCS and most of them prefer a westward propagation with meridional deflections. Eastward propagating eddies occur more frequently on the southwest of Luzon and the east of Vietnam,and are mainly controlled by the circulation in SCS. Seasonal variations of eddy distribution show inconsistent characteristics in different regions of SCS. Cyclonic (anticyclonic) eddies prefer to occur during spring (winter) on the southwest of Taiwan and southwest of Luzon. While in the northwest of Luzon and southeast of Vitnam,cyclonic eddies prefer winter and anticyclonic eddies more likely in autumn and summer,respectively. Correlation analysis shows that wind stress curl can hardly benefit the formation of eddies directly while the geographic vorticity plays a significant role.

Key words: South China Sea, mesoscale eddy, seasonal variation, spatial variation CLC Number: P732.7 Document code: A

CLC Number:

P732.7

HUANG Yawen, HUA Lijuan, ZHONG Linhao, FENG Shide. Characteristics of mesoscale eddies in South China Sea[J]. , 2016, 33(1): 97-106.

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