Lagrangian Analysis of Transport Pathways of Subtropical Water to the Primorye Coast

Abstract

Lagrangian calculations based on satellite altimetry data (1993–2015) statistically demonstrated the existence of stable transport pathways of subtropical waters to the southern coasts of Russian Primorye through the subarctic front of the Sea of Japan. This transport is mainly provided by a peculiar mesoscale circulation north of the front as eddy streets, which facilitate the formation of Lagrangian intrusions of warm water penetrating further northward. The transport of warm waters in recent decades could be one of the factors responsible for the prolonged warm autumns observed in Primorye since the 1990s and explains the penetration of thermophilic fishes and other tropical and subtropical marine organisms and animals to the Primorye coasts.