North Equatorial Current forcing of local circulation in eastern Luzon, Philippines
Abstract
The exchange of water between the Bicol Shelf in eastern Luzon Island and the oligotrophic waters of the western Pacific are influenced by the northward branch of the North Equatorial Current as it flows along the shelf break. From the east, the NEC hits the western boundary off Catanduanes Island but separates again from the shelf to cross the mouth of Lamon Bay towards the Isabela coast to feed the Kuroshio. It becomes a full-fledged Kuroshio by the time it reaches 16.5N. The separation from the shelf spins off a cyclonic eddy, which contains elevated chlorophyll concentrations. Advection patterns of surface water inferred from MODIS chlorophyll images show that the high chlorophyll is due to cross shelf transport of shelf waters through a number of gaps through a deep reef along the shelf break. A regional scale HYCOM model is used to elucidate the role of a shelf promontory on the current separation, the presence of the submerged reef along the shelf break on shelf water transports and the potential role of the cyclonic eddy in forcing shelf circulation.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013AGUFMOS41B1808V
- Keywords:
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- 4219 OCEANOGRAPHY: GENERAL Continental shelf and slope processes