Observations of seamount-attached eddies in the North Pacific

Satellite-tracked drifters were used to examine eddy activity in the vicinity of the Emperor Seamount Chain (ESC) in the North Pacific during 1991-1993. The trajectories of two drifters drogued at a depth of 120 m revealed a pair of counterrotating mesoscale eddies attached to the leeside of Ojin/Jingu Seamount in the summer of 1992. The eddies had diameters of 75-100 km and rotational speeds of 20-40 cm/s at 120 m. Sea surface height anomalies derived from blended TOPEX/ERS-1 satellite altimetry revealed that the eddies had a surface manifestation as well. One of the drifters made five loops within the cyclonic eddy over a period of 62 days, during which time the eddy translated westward, toward the seamount, at 2.9 cm/s. This is one of the first observations demonstrating an extended attachment of a topographically generated eddy to a seamount. Drifters drogued at a depth of 15 m which crossed the ESC in the summer of 1991 and winter of 1993 revealed no eddy activity, most likely because of a decoupling of the topographic influence to the 15 m flow at their crossing latitude over the Nintoku Seamount (summit depth at 1000 m). The implication is that eddy formation within the mixed layer near the ESC is confined to the region around the taller Ojin/Jingu and Kinmei Seamounts (summit depths at 800 m and 100 m, respectively). It is suggested that long-lived eddies attached to the leeside of the ESC can profoundly influence local biological production and water exchange between the western and eastern basins of the North Pacific.