Drifting buoys, satellite altimetry and satellite-derived sea surface thermal images are used to identify the existence of a large cold-core, cyclonic Kuroshio frontal eddy between Hengchun Peninsula and Lanyu, southeast off Taiwan Island around March 1996. The cold eddy accompanies an offshore meander of the Kuroshio near Lanyu, about 70 km and 100 km in horizontal zonal and meridional scales, respectively. The cold eddy is different from normal Kuroshio frontal eddies for its persisting of about 2 months near Lanyu. Supporting evidence suggests that the Kuroshio intruded into the South China Sea (SCS, hereafter) forming a loop-like structure during the persisting period of the cold eddy and that similar eddies occur occasionally in the same location. Compared with the corresponding studies in the Gulf of Mexico, it is suggested that Lanyu cold eddies are SCS analogues of Tortugas eddies found in the southern Straits of Florida. Overshooting of the meandering Kuroshio when it leaves the SCS and effects from conservation of potential vorticity are the possible mechanism of eddy genesis.
JING Chunsheng1,2 & LI Li1 1. Third Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Xiamen 361005, China
TOPEX/Poseidon satellite altimetry data from 1993 to 1999 were used to study mean annual variation of sea surface height anomaly (SSHA) in the South China Sea (SCS) and to re-produce its climatological monthly surface dynamic topography in conjunction with historical hy-drographic data. The characters and rules of seasonal evolution of the SCS dynamic topography and its upper circulation were then discussed. Analyses indicate that annual variation of the SCS large-scale circulation could be divided into four major phases. In winter (from November to Feb-ruary), the SCS circulation is mainly controlled by double cyclonic gyres with domination of the northern gyre. Other corresponding features include the Kuroshio intrusion from the Luzon Strait and the northeastward off-shelf current in the area northwest off Kalimantan Island. The double gyre structure disassembled in spring (from March to April) when the northern gyre remains cyc-lonic, the southern gyre becomes anticyclonic, and the general circulation pattern shows a dipole. There is no obvious large-scale closed gyre inside the SCS basin in both summer (from May to July) and autumn (from August to October) when the SCS Monsoon Jet dominates the circulation, which flows northeastward across the SCS. Even so, circulation patterns of these two phases di-verse significantly. From May to July, the SCS monsoon jet flows northward near the Vietnam coast and bends eastward along the topography southeast off Hainan Island at about 18N form-ing an anticyclonic turn. It then turns northeastward after crossing the SCS. From August to Octo-ber, however, the monsoon Jet leaves the coast of Vietnam and enters interior of the basin at about 13N, and the general circulation pattern becomes cyclonic. The Kuroshio intrusion was not obvious in spring, summer and autumn. It is suggested from these observations that dynamic ad-justment of the SCS circulation starts right after the peak period of the prevailing monsoon.
