Based on an analysis of drifter data from the World Ocean Circulation Experiment during 1979-1998, the sizes of the eddies in the North subtropical Pacific are determined from the radii of curvature of the drifter paths calculated by using a non-linear curve fitting method. To support the drifter data results, Sea Surface Height from the TOPEX/POSEIDON and ERS2 satellite data are analyzed in connection with the drifter paths. It is found that the eddies in the North Pacific (18°-23°N and 125°-150°E) move westward at an average speed of approximately 0.098 ms-1 and their average radius is 176 km,with radii ranging from 98 km to 298 km. During the nineteen-year period, only 4 out of approximately 200 drifters (2%)actually entered the South China Sea from the area adjacent to the Luzon Strait (18°-22°N and 121°-125°E) in the winter. It is also found that eddies from the interior of the North Pacific are unlikely to enter the South China Sea through the Luzon Strait.
Mesoscale eddy effects on the wintertime verti-cal mixing in the formation region of the North Pacific Sub-tropical Mode Water (NPSTMW) are studied using hydro-graphic data from Argo profiling floats deployed in the Ku-roshio recirculation region in February and March of 2001. Anticyclonic (warm) eddy enhances the wintertime vertical mixing and results in the deep mixed layer and the deep thermocline. Consequently, a large volumetric water mass with low potential vorticity corresponding to the prototype of NPSTMW tends to be formed. By contrast, cyclonic (cold) eddy is unfavorable for the vertical mixing process and halts the deepening of the mixed layer and thus the formation of mode water. Further analysis shows that cyclonic eddies prevail in the late 1990s in the formation region of NPSTMW, which lead to significant suppression of the wintertime ver-tical mixing (96-98) and thus are unfavorable for the for-mation of NPSTMW; while the situation is completely re-versed in the early 1990s (93-95).
