Meander Response of the Kuroshio in the East China Sea to Impinging Eddies
2021
Shi, Qian | Wang, Guihua
Both observations and an idealized model demonstrate that the path of a western boundary current, like the Kuroshio, can be perturbed by the impingement of an ocean eddy. When a strong cyclonic (anti‐cyclonic) eddy approaches the axis of the Kuroshio in the East China Sea, the current path can be repelled (attracted) by the eddy. The subsequent disruption occurs primarily near the interaction region and propagates downstream, forming a dissipating wavelike fluctuation. The spatial‐temporal evolution of Kuroshio axis shift by impinging eddy can be explained by idealized vorticity dynamics on the current‐eddy interaction process, and the magnitude of current path shift is shown to be determined by two nondimensional factors: the ratio of eddy strength to the Kuroshio strength; and the ratio of horizontal shearing strength in the background to that in the current.
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