Upper turbulent mixing in the interior and surrounding areas of an anticyclonic eddy in the northern South China Sea(SCS)was estimated from underwater glider data(May 2015)in the present study,using the Gregg-HenyeyPo...Upper turbulent mixing in the interior and surrounding areas of an anticyclonic eddy in the northern South China Sea(SCS)was estimated from underwater glider data(May 2015)in the present study,using the Gregg-HenyeyPolzin parameterization and the Thorpe-scale method.The observations revealed a clear asymmetrical spatial pattern of turbulent mixing in the anticyclonic eddy area.Enhanced diffusivity(in the order of 10–3 m2/s)was found at the posterior edge of the anticyclonic mesoscale eddy;on the anterior side,diffusivity was one order of magnitude lower on average.This asymmetrical pattern was highly correlated with the eddy kinetic energy.Higher shear variance on the posterior side,which is conducive to the triggering of shear instability,may be the main mechanism for the elevated diffusivity.In addition,the generation and growth of sub-mesoscale motions that are fed by mesoscale eddies on their posterior side may also promote the occurrence of strong mixing in the studied region.The results of this study help improve our knowledge regarding turbulent mixing in the northern SCS.展开更多
基金The National Key R&D Plan of China under contract Nos 2017YFC0305904,2017YFC0305804 and 2016YFC1401404the National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract Nos 41876023,41630970,41806037,41706137 and 41806033+4 种基金the Guangdong Science and Technology Project under contract Nos 2019A1515111044,2018A0303130047 and 2017A030310332the Guangzhou Science and Technology Project under contract No.201707020037the Natural Science Foundation of Shenzhen University under contract No.2019078the Dedicated Fund for Promoting High-quality Economic Development in Guangdong Province(Marine Economic Development Project)under contract No.GDOE2019A03the Independent Research Project Program of State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography under contract Nos LTOZZ1902 and LTO1909。
文摘Upper turbulent mixing in the interior and surrounding areas of an anticyclonic eddy in the northern South China Sea(SCS)was estimated from underwater glider data(May 2015)in the present study,using the Gregg-HenyeyPolzin parameterization and the Thorpe-scale method.The observations revealed a clear asymmetrical spatial pattern of turbulent mixing in the anticyclonic eddy area.Enhanced diffusivity(in the order of 10–3 m2/s)was found at the posterior edge of the anticyclonic mesoscale eddy;on the anterior side,diffusivity was one order of magnitude lower on average.This asymmetrical pattern was highly correlated with the eddy kinetic energy.Higher shear variance on the posterior side,which is conducive to the triggering of shear instability,may be the main mechanism for the elevated diffusivity.In addition,the generation and growth of sub-mesoscale motions that are fed by mesoscale eddies on their posterior side may also promote the occurrence of strong mixing in the studied region.The results of this study help improve our knowledge regarding turbulent mixing in the northern SCS.
