Affiliation:
1. State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography South China Sea Institute of Oceanology Chinese Academy of Sciences Guangzhou China
2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China
3. National Satellite Ocean Application Service Beijing China
Abstract
AbstractThe Great Whirl (GW) and the Socotra Gyre (SoG), two prominent anticyclonic eddies in the western Arabian Sea, exhibit strong dynamic interactions. This study reports a case of the merging of the GW and the SoG recorded by Argo floats in September 2019. Combined with satellite observations and a state‐of‐the‐art ocean reanalysis, we show that the merging process was first detected at the subsurface layer (∼150 m depth) rather than the surface. As the original water inside the GW is cooler than the SoG, the merging created a baroclinic structure between the eddies. The density gradients associated with the baroclinic structure drive strong subsurface geostrophic currents following the thermal wind relationship, leading to the fast merging at 100–200 m depth. Energy analysis shows that the predominant energy source for the merged eddy was the barotropic and baroclinic instability. The dissipative processes caused the rapid decay of the merged eddy. The merging process induced submesoscale activities and promoted ocean vertical exchanges south of Socotra Island.
Funder
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Publisher
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Subject
Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous),Space and Planetary Science,Geochemistry and Petrology,Geophysics,Oceanography