The South China Sea Mesoscale Eddy Experiment (S-MEE) and Its Primary Findings

South China Sea (SCS), the largest marginal sea in the northwestern Pacific, have strong eddy activities as revealed by both satellite and in situ observations. The 3D structures of the SCS mesoscale eddies and their lifecycles, including the generation and dissipation processes, are, however, still not well understood at present because of the lack of well-designed field observations. In order to address the above two scientific issues (3D structure and lifecycle of SCS mesoscale eddies), the SCS Mesoscale Eddy Experiment (S-MEE for short) was designed and conducted in the period from October 2013 to June 2014. As part of S-MEE, two bottom-anchored subsurface mooring arrays with one consisting of 10 moorings and the other 7 moorings, were deployed along the historical pathway of the mesoscale eddies in the northern SCS. All the moorings were equipped with ADCPs, RCMs, CTDs and temperature chains to make continues measurements of horizontal current velocity and temperature/salinity in the whole water column. During the S-MEE, a total of 5 distinct mesoscale eddies were observed to cross the mooring arrays, among which one anticyclonic and cyclonic eddy pair was fully captured by the mooring arrays. In addition to moored observations, we also conducted two transects across the center of the anticyclonic eddy and made high-resolution hydrographic and turbulent mixing measurements. Based on the data collected by the S-MEE and concurrent satellite-derived observations, we constructed the full-depth 3D structure of the eddy pair and analyzed its generation and dissipation mechanisms. We found that the eddies extend from the surface to the sea bottom and display prominent tilted structures in the vertical. By conducting an eddy energy budget analysis, we further identified that generation of submesoscale motions constitutes the dominant mechanism for the oceanic eddy dissipation.