Seasonal variability of mesoscale eddies in the Banda Sea inferred from altimeter data |
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| Authors: | Baiyang Chen Lingling Xie Quanan Zheng Lei Zhou Lei Wang Baoxin Feng Zipeng Yu |
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| Institution: | Laboratory of Coastal Ocean Variation and Disaster Prediction, College of Ocean and Meteorology, GuangdongOcean University, Zhanjiang 524088, China;Key Laboratory of Climate, Resources, and Environment in Continental Shelf Sea and Deep Ocean, GuangdongOcean University, Zhanjiang 524088, China;Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA;School of Oceanography, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China;Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Zhuhai 519000, China;State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Institute ofAtmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China |
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| Abstract: | Using the mesoscale eddy trajectory atlas product derived from satellite altimeter data from 1993 to 2016, this study analyzes statistical characteristics and seasonal variability of mesoscale eddies in the Banda Sea of the Indonesian seas. The results show that there were 147 mesoscale eddies that occurred in the Banda Sea, of which 137 eddies were locally generated and 10 originated from outside. The total numbers of cyclonic eddies (CEs, clockwise) and anticyclonic eddies (AEs, anticlockwise) are 76 and 71, respectively. Seasonally, the number of CEs (AEs) is twice larger than the number of AEs (CEs) in winter (summer). In winter, CEs are distributed in the southern and AEs in the northern basins, respectively, but the opposite thing occurs in summer, i.e., the polarities of mesoscale eddies observed at the same location reverse seasonally. The mechanisms of polarity distribution reversal (PDR) of mesoscale eddies are examined with reanalysis data of ocean currents and winds. The results indicate that the basin-scale vorticity, wind stress curl, and the meridional shear of zonal current reverse seasonally, which are favorable to the PDR of mesoscale eddies. The possible generation mechanisms of mesoscale eddies include direct wind forcing, barotropic and baroclinic instabilities, of which the direct wind forcing should play the dominant role. |
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| Keywords: | mesoscale eddies polarity distribution reversal (PDR) meridional shear Banda Sea Indonesian seas |
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