Subtropical Mode Water in a recent persisting Kuroshio large-meander period: part II—formation and temporal evolution in the Kuroshio recirculation gyre off Shikoku

Abstract

Since August 2017, the large meander (LM) path of the Kuroshio south of Japan has continued to date for more than five years, with a local Kuroshio recirculation gyre off Shikoku (RGOS). The formation and temporal evolution of Subtropical Mode Water (STMW) in the isolated RGOS were examined by using Argo profiling float and shipboard observation data. Since the late winter of 2018, which was the first winter of the current LM event, multiple STMW layers with different densities overlapping with each other have been observed for more than three years inside the RGOS. The deeper STMW layer of 18.0 °C, which was formed in the late winter of 2017 before the current LM event began, has survived at least until September 2021 while its thickness and horizontal extent has decreased gradually. We may have succeeded in discovering the longest survived STMW ever observed due to a suitable environment for STMW conservation inside the RGOS. On the other hand, the shallower STMW layer(s) of 19.0–19.8 °C, which was originally formed over the deeper STMW layer in the late winter of 2018, has been repeatedly renewed or dissipated in the following years. The oxygen utilization rate at the core of the deeper STMW at a depth of 500 dbar was estimated to be 4.6 μmol kg−1 yr−1, which is believed to be explained solely by oxygen consumption due to remineralization.