Observed and simulated submesoscale vertical pump of an anticyclonic eddy in the South China Sea

• DOI: 10.1038/srep44011
• Publication Date: 2017-03-09T12:38:16Z
• Authors: Yisen Zhong; Annalisa Bracco; Jiwei Tian; Jihai Dong; Wei Zhao; Zhiwei Zhang
• Keywords: Anticyclone; China sea

Oceanic mesoscale eddies with typical sizes of 30-200 km contain more than half the kinetic energy ocean. With an average lifespan several months, they are major contributors to transport heat, nutrients, plankton, dissolved oxygen and carbon in Mesoscale have been observed studied over past 50 years, nonetheless our understanding details their structure remains incomplete due lack systematic high-resolution measurements. To bridge this gap, a survey anticyclone was conducted early 2014 South China Sea capturing its at submesoscale resolution. By modeling comparable size position three horizontal resolutions authors verify resolution requirements for variability dynamical quantities, quantify role ageostrophic motions on vertical associated anticyclone. Results indicate that different processes contribute depending depth distance from eddy center, frontogenesis playing key role. Vertical by anticyclones cannot be reliably estimated coarse-resolution or even mesoscale-resolving models, important implications global estimates eddy-driven pumping biophysical chemical tracers.