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Observation of submesoscale turbulence in a cyclonic eddy

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A Correction to this article was published on 22 February 2020

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Abstract

In this study, we report results from a high-resolution measurement of submesoscale turbulence in a mesoscale eddy. The kinetic energy spectra in the mesoscale eddy are decomposed into mesoscale and submesoscale components using Helmholtz decomposition and wave-vortex decomposition methods. The length scale of transition from mesoscale to submesoscale is quantitatively determined, which is roughly consistent with the first baroclinic Rossby radius of deformation (44 km) and has a relatively weak dependence on depth. Two distinct spectral slopes for the mesoscale and submesoscale turbulence are identified: the kinetic energy spectrum at mesoscale has a vertical average − 2.6 slope, which agrees with the interior QG turbulence theory; at submesoscale, the average slope is −1.5 and weakly dependent on depth, which is consistent with the GM internal wave spectrum.

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  • 22 February 2020

    The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake. During the production process, Fig. 4 was presented incorrectly which was the same as Fig. 5.

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Acknowledgments

The authors appreciate the scientists and crews of R/V Xiangyanghong 10 for performing the observation experiment. We thank James C. McWilliams, Shuiming Chen and Lim Kam Sian Kenny Thiam Choy for their in-depth discussions. The altimeter products were produced by Ssalto/Duacs and were downloaded from Aviso http://www.aviso.altimetry.fr).

Funding

The present study is supported by the National Key Research Program of China (2017YFA0604100). Y.Z. acknowledges support from National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41406003), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation funded project (Grant No. 2013 M541959), and Jiangsu Provincial Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. BK20130064). C.D. appreciates the supports from NSFC (41476022, 41490643), Program for Innovation Research and Entrepreneurship team in Jiangsu Province, and National Programme on Global Change and Air-Sea Interaction (No. GASI-03-IPOVAI-05), and the National Key Research Program of China (2016YFA0601803).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Meteorology and Oceanography, National University of Defense Technology, Nanjing, 211101, China

    Yongchui Zhang & Xi Chen

  2. Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Zhuhai, 519082, China

    Yongchui Zhang & Changming Dong

  3. Oceanic Modeling and Observation Laboratory, Marine Science College, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China

    Changming Dong

  4. School of Marine Science and Technology, Northwestern Polytechnic University, Xi’an, 710072, China

    Yang Wang

  5. Maritime Environment Construction Office, Beijing, 100061, China

    Yang Wang

Authors
  1. Yongchui Zhang
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  2. Changming Dong
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  3. Xi Chen
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  4. Yang Wang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xi Chen.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Fanghua Xu

The original version of this article was revised: During the production process, Fig. 4 was presented incorrectly which was the same as Fig. 5.

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Zhang, Y., Dong, C., Chen, X. et al. Observation of submesoscale turbulence in a cyclonic eddy. Ocean Dynamics 70, 513–520 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10236-020-01349-5

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