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Field-observation for an anticyclonic mesoscale eddy consisted of twelve gliders and sixty-two expendable probes in the northern South China Sea during summer 2017

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Abstract

An intensive field observation experiment using 12 Chinese gliders equipped with conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) sensors and 62 expendable CTD probes (XCTDs) was performed to investigate the 3-D structure and time evolution of an anticyclonic eddy in the northern South China Sea (NSCS). The observed results showed that the anticyclonic eddy had a horizontal radius of about 80 km at surface and a vertical depth of impact of more than 1000 m. The largest temperature and salinity anomalies compared with the averaged values of the temperature and salinity profiles were 3.5°C and 0.4 psu at 120 m depth, respectively. Combined analysis of altimeter sea level and water mass properties indicated that the anticyclonic eddy was shed from the Kuroshio loop current. The vertical axis of the anticyclonic eddy tilted from surface to the observed maximum depth (1000 m) along its translation direction against the 2000 m isobath. The center of the anticyclonic eddy remained in the region east of Dongsha Island for more than half a month. During this time, the long axis direction of the eddy changed from across the slope to along the slope. Then, the eddy moved southward along the 2000 m isobaths. Both the geostrophic current and temperature distribution revealed that the eddy intensity weakened during the observation period gradually. These observations indicated strong interaction between the anticyclonic eddy and the slope topography of Dongsha Island.

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Acknowledgements

This study benefited from the ADT data generated by DUACS and distributed by AVISO (ftp://ftp.aviso.oceanobs.com). This work was supported by the Strategic Priority Research Programs of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant Nos. XDA11010302, XDA11040101), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41521005, 41776036, 41476012, 61233013, 41576012 and 41776026), the Science and Technology Program of Guangdong, China (Grant No. 2016A020224003), and the National Key Scientific Instrument and Equipment Development Project (Grant No. 2013YQ16079303).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510301, China

    Yeqiang Shu, Ju Chen, Qiang Wang & Dongxiao Wang

  2. State Key Laboratory of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China

    Shuo Li & Jiancheng Yu

Authors
  1. Yeqiang Shu
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  2. Ju Chen
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  3. Shuo Li
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  4. Qiang Wang
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  5. Jiancheng Yu
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  6. Dongxiao Wang
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jiancheng Yu or Dongxiao Wang.

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Shu, Y., Chen, J., Li, S. et al. Field-observation for an anticyclonic mesoscale eddy consisted of twelve gliders and sixty-two expendable probes in the northern South China Sea during summer 2017. Sci. China Earth Sci. 62, 451–458 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-018-9239-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-018-9239-0

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