Origins of water within warm-core eddies of the western Tasman Sea

Abstract

Comparison of the salinity within and around warm-core eddies of the western Tasman Sea has shown (a) that such eddies have their origin solely within waters of the East Australian Current (EAC); (b) that as these eddies drift southward within the EAC, their salinity characteristics differ little from those of the surrounding water; (c) that after separation from the EAC at around 34ºS., their salinity characteristics are generally conserved in the face of much lower salinities of the surrounding waters. This latter feature was especially marked in the case of eddy J, which maintained in the upper 250 m an abnormally high salinity signature to as far south as 40º Below 300 m, this eddy J contained remnants of another high-salinity eddy. Possible derivations of these deeper waters are examined.