The response of cyclonic eddies to typhoons based on satellite remote sensing data for 2001–2014 from the South China Sea

Abstract

Summary: Eddies are known to be affected by typhoons, and in recent years, the general three-dimensional structure, as well as features of the spatial and temporal distributions of eddies have been determined. However, the type of eddy that is most likely to be affected by a typhoon remains unclear. In this paper, quantitative and qualitative methods were used to study the eddies that are most sensitive to upper-ocean tropical cyclones (TCs) from the perspective of eddy characteristics, and the quantitative results showed that not all eddies were enhanced under the influence of typhoons. Enhancement of the eddy amplitude (Amp), radius (Rad), area (A), or eddy kinetic energy (EKE) accounted for 92.3% of the total eddy within the radius of the typhoon. Qualitative analyses showed the following: First, eddies located on different sides of the typhoon tracks were differently affected, as eddies on the left side were more intensely affected by the typhoon than eddies on the right side, and second, eddies with short lifespans or small radii were more susceptible to the TCs. Keywords: Tropical cyclones, Mesoscale eddy, Eddy kinetic energy