Intra-seasonal Oscillation of Abyssal Currents in the Middle East Pacific Ocean

<p>In this work, the intra-seasonal oscillation of the abyssal currents in the Middle East Pacific Ocean is investigated using direct observations from ADCP instruments, which are mounted on a subsurface mooring deployed at 154oW，10oN. The observation shows that the intra-seasonal (20-100 days) oscillation part of the kinetic energy accounts for more than 40% of the low-frequency flow kinetic energy between 200~2000m, while accounts for more than 50% under 2000m; the intra-seasonal oscillation of meridional flow is more obvious than that of zonal flow. The meridional velocity in the upper layer (100-1000m) shows an oscillation at periods of 50~90 days, which is most obvious at the depth of 500m; from 200m to the bottom layer currents shows an synchronous oscillation at a period of 30 days lasting for several months, and the oscillation signal is the strongest in the deep layer (4600m); The correlation is good between the 20~40 day band passed meridional current at the bottom layer and that of the geostrophic current. The observed temperature of 4000m and 5000m also shows similar characteristics of 30 days period oscillation, which has good correlation to the sea level height. The reanalysis data shows the 30 days oscillation of the abyssal currents is propagated from west to east at a speed of about 0.29m/s while the 40~100 day oscillation is propagated at a speed of about 0.1m/s; the intensity of the intra-seasonal oscillation has obvious interannual variations, which may be related to the change of the eddy energy of the sea surface.</p>