WESTERN BOUNDARY CURRENTS AND ASSOCIATED MESOSCALE ACTIVITY IN THE SOLOMON SEA AS OBSERVED FROM ALTIMETRY AND GLIDERS

摘要

The Solomon Sea with its intense Low Latitude Western Boundary Currents (LLWBCs) is a key region in the Pacific Ocean where equatorial and subtropical circulations are connected [1]. This region exhibits the highest levels of sea level variability of the whole South Equatorial Pacific Ocean (Fig. 1). Since the geography of the region is extremely intricate, with numerous islands and complex bathymetry high mesoscale activity develops. Therefore, altimeter data have been used to further explore the variability of both the sea level and the western boundary current of this relatively poorly known part of the ocean to document annual and interannual (ENSO) time scales, and the mesoscale activity. An experimental glider monitoring of the LLWBCs, currently operated since August 2007, shows the huge variability of the transports in relation to ENSO conditions and eddy activity [2]. From altimetry, an eddy-tracking algorithm is used to detect eddies crossed by gliders and so to document their vertical structures.