Mesoscale Anticyclonic Eddies in the Primorye Current System of the Japan/East Sea in the Summer

Abstract

This study identified a process of water supply due to discrete transport by anticyclonic eddies towards the formation region of the intermediate water in the northwestern Japan Sea in the summer season. The structures and dynamics of three anticyclonic mesoscale eddies were studied by means of the Aqualog moored profiler observational survey at the continental slope in the Primorsky Current region east of Peter the Great Bay in June–July 2015. It was shown that the eddy cores were of ellipsoidal shape with an elongated lower part. The anticyclones as isolated dynamic structures carried water enriched with dissolved oxygen in the west-southwest direction. In terms of the thermohaline characteristics the water transported was similar to the Japan Sea intermediate water at its formation region south of Peter the Great Bay.