Variability of the Kuroshio Extension Jet, Recirculation Gyre, and Mesoscale Eddies on Decadal Time Scales

Abstract

Twelve years of sea surface height (SSH) data from multiple satellite altimeters are used to investigate the low-frequency changes and the interconnections of the Kuroshio Extension (KE) jet, its southern recirculation gyre, and their mesoscale eddy field. The dominant signal is characterized by the steady weakening of the KE jet/recirculation gyre from 1993 to 1996, followed by a gradual strengthening after 1997. During the weakening period of 1993–96, the KE path migrated southward in general, and this path migration reversed in direction during the strengthening period of the KE jet and recirculation gyre after 1997. By hindcasting the SSH signals using linear vorticity dynamics, it was found that weakening (strengthening) in the KE jet and recirculation gyre is consistent with westward propagation of negative (positive) SSH anomalies generating in the eastern North Pacific and strengthening during their westward propagation. When the KE jet and recirculation gyre were in a weak mode during 1996–2001, the regional eddy kinetic energy level was observed to be higher than when the jet and recirculation gyre were in a strong mode. This negative correlation between the mean flow intensity and the level of regional eddy kinetic energy is found in both the SSH data and the linear vorticity model to result from the migration of the KE jet inflow over the Izu–Ogasawara Ridge. When it is forced southward by the impinging negative SSH anomalies, the KE jet inflow rides over the ridge through a shallow segment, leading to large-amplitude downstream meanders. Impinging of positive SSH anomalies, on the other hand, strengthens the recirculation gyre and forces the inflow northward where it passes through a deep channel, minimizing the path perturbations in the downstream region.