Island Wakes Observed from High-Frequency Current Mapping Radar

Merrifield, Sophia; Colin, Patrick L.; Cook, Thomas M.; Garcia-Moreno, Carlos; MacKinnon, Jennifer A.; Otero, Mark; Schramek, Travis; Siegelman, Mika; Simmons, Harper L.; Terrill, Eric

doi:10.5670/oceanog.2019.415

Cited by 16 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…The submesoscale generations due to mean current-island interaction have also been recently observed in the wake of Palau (e.g., St. Laurent et al, 2019;Merrifield et al, 2019). Previous studies have argued that down-front wind can strengthen the fronts through nonlinear Ekaman transport and therefore may provide favorable conditions for submesoscale generations (Thomas et al, 2008;Thomas & Lee, 2005).…”

Section: Energetics Analysismentioning

confidence: 68%

“…Generations of submesoscale coherent vortices in the lee of topography has recently been demonstrated by the high‐resolution idealized model simulation (Srinivasan et al, ). The submesoscale generations due to mean current‐island interaction have also been recently observed in the wake of Palau (e.g., St. Laurent et al, ; Merrifield et al, ). Previous studies have argued that down‐front wind can strengthen the fronts through nonlinear Ekaman transport and therefore may provide favorable conditions for submesoscale generations (Thomas et al, ; Thomas & Lee, ).…”

Section: Generation Mechanismsmentioning

confidence: 69%

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Spatiotemporal Characteristics and Generation Mechanisms of Submesoscale Currents in the Northeastern South China Sea Revealed by Numerical Simulations

Zhang

Qiu

et al. 2020

JGR Oceans

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Although both geostrophic‐balanced mesoscale eddies and unbalanced small‐scale processes have been well studied in the northeastern South China Sea (NE‐SCS), less attention has been devoted to the submesoscales in between (i.e., O(1–10 km)), which is recognized as an important conduit connecting the balanced and unbalanced motions. Based on the output from a 1/30° OGCM simulation, spatiotemporal characteristics and generation mechanisms of submesoscales in the NE‐SCS are investigated in this study. Through examining the submesoscale relative vorticity and vertical velocity, the regions southwest of Taiwan (ST) and Luzon Strait (LS) are identified as two hot spots of submesoscales in the NE‐SCS. Seasonally, the submesoscales in region ST are much stronger in winter than summer, while those in LS do not show a significant seasonality. Statistical analysis suggests that the strength of submesoscales in regions ST and LS is highly correlated with the product of mixed‐layer depth and mesoscale strain rate (MSR) and with the MSR itself, respectively. By conducting theoretical scaling and energetics analysis, the authors find that the mixed‐layer instability whose strength is determined by the combination of mixed‐layer depth and MSR and the barotropic instability associated with current‐islands interactions are the dominant generation mechanisms of submesoscales in the above two regions, respectively. Further examinations of the submesoscale energy budget indicate that, to keep a balanced state, the generated submesoscales have to be dissipated by a forward energy cascade, highlighting the important role of submesoscales in the energy balance of the NE‐SCS circulation.

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Section: Energetics Analysismentioning

confidence: 68%

Section: Generation Mechanismsmentioning

confidence: 69%

Spatiotemporal Characteristics and Generation Mechanisms of Submesoscale Currents in the Northeastern South China Sea Revealed by Numerical Simulations

Zhang

Qiu

et al. 2020

JGR Oceans

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“…From the FLEAT program, we utilized temperature and salinity observations from 11 Spray glider missions and from SeaSOAR surveys along with radial velocity observations from a high-frequency (HF) radar installation (Merrifield et al, 2019, in this issue). We employed veloc-ity, temperature, and salinity as available from moorings M1, M2, M3, M4, M5, F1, and F3.…”

Section: Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamical Downscaling of Equatorial Flow Response to Palau

Simmons¹,

Powell²,

Merrifield³

et al. 2019

Oceanog

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“…To further examine the arrival of one cyclonic eddy at Palau, we compare these satellite-derived velocities to velocities from three HF radar systems that were installed in 2016 at Kayangel (a small atoll north of the largest island), Melekeok (the largest island), and Angaur (a small island to the south) as part of the FLEAT program (Figure 2a, magenta squares). These provided hourly, 6 km resolution surface currents on the north and east sides of Palau (Merrifield et al, 2019, in this issue).…”

Section: Context For the Fleat Arraymentioning

confidence: 99%