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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 32, L17602, doi:10.1029/2005GL023842, 2005

Extraordinary subsurface mesoscale eddy detected in the southeast of Okinawa in February 2002

Tetsutaro Takikawa

National Fisheries University, Shimonoseki, Japan


Hiroshi Ichikawa

Institute of Observational Research for Global Change, Yokosuka, Japan
Faculty of Fisheries, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima, Japan


Kaoru Ichikawa

Institute of Observational Research for Global Change, Yokosuka, Japan
Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University, Kasuga, Japan


Satoshi Kawae

Nagasaki Marine Observatory, Japan Meteorological Agency, Nagasaki, Japan


Abstract

In February 2002, a subsurface mesoscale eddy with extraordinary features was detected at a depth of about 300 dbar in the southeast of Okinawa (a part of the Ryukyu Islands). The water mass occupying this subsurface eddy is characterized as the North Pacific Subtropical Mode Water (NPSTMW) with salinity maximum and thick thermostad; its temperature, salinity and potential density at the core of the eddy are 18.4°C, 34.81 and 25.06 σ θ , respectively. Thickness and width of the eddy are about 300 m and 100 km, respectively. Mixing between the eddy and the surrounding water mass is also found. Such eddy with the NPSTMW has never been detected during ten years.

Received 17 June 2005; accepted 29 July 2005; published 2 September 2005.

Index Terms: 4520 Oceanography: Physical: Eddies and mesoscale processes; 4283 Oceanography: General: Water masses; 9355 Geographic Location: Pacific Ocean.

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Citation: Takikawa, T., H. Ichikawa, K. Ichikawa, and S. Kawae (2005), Extraordinary subsurface mesoscale eddy detected in the southeast of Okinawa in February 2002, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L17602, doi:10.1029/2005GL023842.