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Summary: EDDIES ALONG WESTERN BOUNDARIES
Name: Wilton Zumpichiatti Arruda
Department: Department of Oceanography
Major Professor: Doron Nof
Co-major Professor: James J. O'Brien
Degree: Doctor of Philosophy
Term Degree Awarded: Summer, 2002
The Ulleung eddy owes its existence to and nonlinearities: A nonlinear
theory for the generation of the Ulleung Warm Eddy (UWE) (formed close to the
separation of the East Korea Warm Current in the Japan/East Sea) is proposed.
Using the nonlinear reduced gravity (shallow water) equations, it is shown analyti-
cally that the eddy is established in order to balance the northward momentum flux
exerted by the separating western boundary current. In this scenario the presence
of produces a southward (eddy) force balancing the northward momentum flux
imparted by the separating East Korean Warm Current.
The solution is derived using an expansion in powers of 1/6
(here = Rd/f0
where Rd is the Rossby radius based on the undisturbed upper layer thickness H).
It is found that, for a high Rossby number western boundary current (i.e., highly
nonlinear current) the eddy radius is roughly 2Rd/ 1/6
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