Seasonal variability of Kuroshio intrusion northeast of Taiwan Island as revealed by self-organizing map

The self-organizing map method is applied to satellite-derived sea-level anomaly fields of 1993–2012 to study variations of the Kuroshio intrusion northeast of Taiwan Island. Four major features are revealed, showing significant seasonal variability of the intrusion. In general, the intrusion increases (decreases) with a high (low) sea-level anomaly at the edge of the East China Sea shelf in winter (summer). Open-ocean mesoscale eddies play an additional role in modulating the seasonal variation of the intrusion. Further analyses are needed to study eddy-Kuroshio interaction dynamics.