Warm-core eddy

Jeffrey, S.W., and Hallegraeff, G.M. (1987) Phytoplankton pigments, species and photosynthetic pigments in a warm-core eddy of the East Australian Current. I. Summer populations. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 3, 285-294. 

Krom, M.D., Brenner, S., Kress, N., Neori, A., and Gordon, L.I. (1992) Nutrient dynamics and new production in a warm-core eddy from the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Deep-Sea Res. 39, 467-480. 

The most detailed studies of warm-core eddies have been carried out by Krom and co-workers on the Cyprus Eddy (aka Shikmona Gyre Krom etal., 1992, 1993 Zohary etal., 1998). It has also been the site of the recent CYCLOPS phosphate addition experiment which was designed to increase understanding of microbiological processes and nutrient cycling in the Eastern Mediterranean (Carbo etal., 2002). The Cyprus Eddy is a quasi-stationary warm-core feature situated south of Cyprus. It has been found both to the east and west of the Eratosthenes Seamount. It seems to remain stationary for several years and then move out probably to the northeast to be replaced with another similar feature from the southwest (Brenner etal., 1990). 

Brenner, S., Rozentraub, Z., Bishop, J. and Krom, M. (1990) The mixed layer/thermocline cycle of a persistant warm core eddy in the Eastern Mediterranean. Dynamics of Atmospheres and Oceans, 15, AS1-A11. 

Yilmaz, A. and Tugral, S. (1998) The effect of cold- and warm-core eddies on the distribution and stoichiometry of dissolved nutrients in the northeastern Mediterranean. Journal of Marine Systems, 16, 253-268. 

Zohary, T. and Robarts, R.D. (1992) Bacterial numbers, bacterial production, and heterotrophic nanoplankton abundance in a warm core eddy in the Eastern Mediterranean. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 84, 133-137. 

Low, but measurable N2 fixation rates were recently reported by Needoba et al. (2007), from the inter-convergence zone, 200 km off the coast of Northern California, where sea surface temperatures were >19°C. In addition, they reported the temporal dynamics of mRNA abundance for nijH down to 80 m, where temperatures ranged 14-19°C, and expression was dominated by a unicellular Group A phylotype, and to a lesser extent by Group B. Similarly, HoU et al. (2007) reported N2 fixation in the upper water column of warm core and cold core eddies at temperatures at or below 19C in the Leeuwin Current off the west coast of Australia. 

Cyprus warm-core (anti-cyclonic) eddy... 

Fig. 1.36 (Chern and Wang, 2003) depicts the horizontal distribution of temperature in the second layer, 25 50 m, averaged over a year. The 25 °C isotherm separates the SCS into two regions. The cold water, <25 °C, occurs in the northwestern part of the basin, corresponding to the main cyclonic eddy. The core of the eddy, to the west of Luzon, has a mean temperature lower than 24 °C. The warm water, >25 °C, occurs in the southern SCS, including the Gulf of Thailand, the Luzon Strait, and the region of the anticyclonic eddy to the southwest of Taiwan region.

Large and positive latent and sensible heat fluxes are found in the Kuroshio and the warm eddy east of the Kuroshio core, which is a high temperature region. This shows that the distributions of latent and sensible heat fluxes... 

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