Movement and structural variation of warm eddy WE92 for three years in the Western East/Japan Sea

A homogeneous layer (lens) caused by atmospheric cooling in the core of WE92 formed from the surface layer to a maximum depth of ∼250 m throughout the winter. The temperature of the mixed layer at the surface near Ulleung Island was almost homogeneous, averaging approximately 10 °C the first winter and lower than 8 °C in the other two winters. If a warm eddy moves north several times throughout the winter and then moves east, a much lower temperature can be expected in the mixed layer at the eddy's center. The maximum velocity of the warm eddy (30-60 cm/s) nearly equaled that of the EKWC, but the depth of maximum velocity (50-150 m) exceeded that of the EKWC. Based on the effects of the EKWC on WE92, the currents of the warm eddy flowed fastest on the west side of WE92.