Observed near-inertial waves generated by tropical and extratropical cyclones in the East China Sea

Abstract

Both tropical and extratropical cyclones can affect the East China Sea (ECS) shelf in summer. Based on a current mooring deployed in 2014, near-inertial waves (NIWs) triggered by both extratropical and tropical cyclones were examined. During the observation period, three tropical cyclones (i.e., NEOGURI, MATMO, and NAKRI) passed by the mooring site. MATMO and NAKRI led to obvious near-inertial responses. The weakest tropical cyclone (MATMO) caused the strongest NIWs due to its large translation speed and favorable position relative to the mooring site. Mode 1 dominates the vertical structure of the NIWs caused by tropical cyclones. Due to the modulation of the background vorticity, the NIWs show a significant blueshift. However, the NIWs caused by extratropical cyclones are mainly concentrated near the surface layer with a higher proportion of mode-2 NIWs. The highest value of the near-inertial kinetic energy generated by extratropical cyclones is about half of that generated by tropical cyclones. In addition, both two kinds of cyclones can lead to an enhancement of sub-inertial current in the ECS shelf. The nonlinear interactions between NIWs and semidiurnal internal tides (D2) are also evidenced, with the NIWs being a potential trigger for D2-f waves. This study highlights the important role of NIW on the nonlinear interactions and energy transfer within the internal wave spectral continuum in the continental shelf region.