Abstract
Based on an eddy-permitting numerical model, the mesoscale variability in the East-Sakhalin Current is investigated during the winter-spring period. Analysis of necessary conditions for the development of baroclinic instability showed that the nearshore component of the East-Sakhalin Current is potentially baroclinic unstable in the first half-year. The simulated circulation uncovered a generation of anticyclonic eddies on the eastern Sakhalin shelf. It was established that a spatial scale of these eddies and the first baroclinic Rossby radius of deformation are values of the same order; a lifetime of these eddies varies from 4 to 6 weeks, given the Rossby number varies from 0.05 to 0.2. Analysis of the rate of eddy energy conversion on the eastern Sakhalin shelf showed that the generation of the revealed mesoscale eddies results from, mainly, baroclinic instability, whereas barotropic instability can be both favoring and preventing to the generation of these eddies.
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Funding
This work was supported by the RFBR (projects 17-05-00035), a part of the work was supported by the POI FEB RAS Program “Mathematical simulation and analysis of dynamical processes in the ocean” (AAAA-A17 − 117030110034 − 7).
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Responsible Editor: Sergey Prants
This article is part of the Topical Collection on the International Conference “Vortices and coherent structures: from ocean to microfluids”, Vladivostok, Russia, 28–31 August 2017
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Stepanov, D.V. Mesoscale eddies and baroclinic instability over the eastern Sakhalin shelf of the Sea of Okhotsk: a model-based analysis. Ocean Dynamics 68, 1353–1370 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10236-018-1192-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10236-018-1192-2