The Role of Small‐Scale Topography in Modulating Eddy Scale in the Northern South China Sea

A high-resolution nested model initialized with either smooth or synthetically generated rough topography is used to investigate the role of small-scale in modulating eddy scales northern South China Sea. It found that while adding leads negligible changes surface and their seasonal cycle, it significantly reduces bottom by about 30%–40%. This reduction mainly contributed three processes: wave generation due flow interaction subsequent propagation into ocean interior, forward energy cascade associated processes such as nonpropagating form drag effect, influence on deep boundary current. Our results highlight importance setting length particularly ocean.