Publication Date:
2022-05-26
Description:
© The Author(s), 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Andres, M., Siegelman, M., Hormann, V., Musgrave, R. C., Merrifield, S. T., Rudnick, D. L., Merrifield, M. A., Alford, M. H., Voet, G., Wijesekera, H. W., MacKinnon, J. A., Centurioni, L., Nash, J. D., & Terrill, E. J. Eddies, topography, and the abyssal flow by the Kyushu-Palau Ridge near Velasco Reef. Oceanography, 32(4), (2019): 46-55, doi: 10.5670/oceanog.2019.410.
Description:
Palau, an island group in the tropical western North Pacific at the southern end of Kyushu-Palau Ridge, sits near the boundary between the westward-flowing North Equatorial Current (NEC) and the eastward-flowing North Equatorial Countercurrent. Combining remote-sensing observations of the sea surface with an unprecedented in situ set of subsurface measurements, we examine the flow near Palau with a particular focus on the abyssal circulation and on the deep expression of mesoscale eddies in the region. We find that the deep currents time-averaged over 10 months are generally very weak north of Palau and not aligned with the NEC in the upper ocean. This weak abyssal flow is punctuated by the passing of mesoscale eddies, evident as sea surface height anomalies, that disrupt the mean flow from the surface to the seafloor. Eddy influence is observed to depths exceeding 4,200 m. These deep-reaching mesoscale eddies typically propagate westward past Palau, and as they do, any associated deep flows must contend with the topography of the Kyushu-Palau Ridge. This interaction leads to vertical structure far below the main thermocline. Observations examined here for one particularly strong and well-sampled eddy suggest that the flow was equivalent barotropic in the far field east and west of the ridge, with a more complicated vertical structure in the immediate vicinity of the ridge by the tip of Velasco Reef.
Description:
We gratefully acknowledge the help of Captain David Murline and the crew of R/V Roger Revelle and the shore-based assistance of Lori Colin and Pat Colin of the Coral Reef Research Foundation. We sincerely thank Terri Paluszkiewicz for her steadfast support of basic research programs, including FLEAT, during her many years of service to the community as Office of Naval Research (ONR) Physical Oceanography Program Manager. MA was supported by ONR grant N000141612668, MS and MAM by N00014-16-1-2671, MHA and JAM by N00014-15-1-2264 and N00014-16-1-3070, GV by N00014-15-1-2592, DLR by N00014-
15-1-2488, and STM and EJT by N00014-15-1-2304. VH and LC were supported by ONR grant N00014-15-1-2286 and NOAA GDP grant NA15OAR4320071. RCM was supported by the Postdoctoral Scholar Program at the Wood Hole Oceanographic Institution, with funding provided by the Weston Howland Jr. Postdoctoral Scholarship. We thank the Palau National Government for permission to carry out the research in Palau.
Repository Name:
Woods Hole Open Access Server
Type:
Article
