Ice-Tethered Profilers (ITP), deployed in the Arctic Ocean between 2004 and 2013, have provided detailed temperature and salinity measurements of an assortment of halocline eddies. A total of 127 mesoscale eddies have been detected, 95% of which were anticyclones, the majority of which had anomalously cold cores. These cold-core anticyclonic eddies were observed in the Beaufort Gyre region (Canadian water eddies) and the vicinity of the Transpolar Drift Stream (Eurasian water eddies). An Arctic-wide calculation of the first baroclinic Rossby deformation radius R d has been made using ITP data coupled with climatology; R d 13 km in the Canadian water and 8 km in the Eurasian water. The observed eddies are found to have scales comparable to R d . Halocline eddies are in cyclogeostrophic balance and can be described by a Rankine vortex with maximum azimuthal speeds between 0.05 and 0.4 m/s. The relationship between radius and thickness for the eddies is consistent with adjustment to the ambient stratification. Eddies may be divided into four groups, each characterized by distinct core depths and core temperature and salinity properties, suggesting multiple source regions and enabling speculation of varying formation mechanisms.

The eddy field across the Arctic Ocean's Canada Basin is analyzed using Ice‐Tethered Profiler (ITP) and moored measurements of temperature, salinity, and velocity spanning 2005 to 2015. ITPs encountered 243 eddies, 98% of which were anticyclones, with approximately 70% of these having anomalously cold cores. The spatially and temporally varying eddy field is analyzed accounting for sampling biases in the unevenly distributed ITP data and caveats in detection methods. The highest concentration of eddies was found in the western and southern portions of the basin, close to topographic margins and boundaries of the Beaufort Gyre. The number of lower halocline eddies approximately doubled from 2005–2012 to 2013–2014. The increased eddy density suggests more active baroclinic instability of the Beaufort Gyre that releases available potential energy to balance the wind energy input; this may stabilize the Gyre spin‐up and associated freshwater increase.

A decade of moored measurements from the Arctic Ocean's northwestern Beaufort Gyre (collected as a component of the Beaufort Gyre Exploration Project) are analyzed to examine the range of mesoscale eddies over the water column and the dynamical processes that set eddy vertical scales. A total of 58 eddies were identified in the moored record, all anticyclones with azimuthal velocities ranging from 10 to 43 cm/s. These are divided into three classes based on core depths. Shallow eddies (core depths around 120 m) are shown to be vertically confined by the strong stratification of the halocline; typical thicknesses are around 100 m. Deep eddies (core depths around 1200 m) are much taller (thicknesses around 1300 m) owing to the weaker stratification at depth, consistent with a previous study. Eddies centered around mid‐depths all have two cores (vertically aligned and separated in depth) characterized by velocity maxima and anomalous temperature and salinity properties. One core is located at the base of the halocline (around 200 m depth) and the other at the depth of the Atlantic Water layer (around 400 m depth). These double‐core eddies have vertical scales between those of the shallow and deep eddies. The strongly decreasing stratification in their depth range motivates a derivation for the quasi‐geostrophic adjustment of a nonuniformly stratified water column to a potential vorticity anomaly. The result aids in interpreting the dynamics and origins of the double‐core eddies, providing insight into transport across a major water mass front separating Canadian and Eurasian Water.

Kinetic energy (KE) in the Arctic Ocean's Beaufort Gyre is dominated by the mesoscale eddy field that plays a central role in the transport of freshwater, heat, and biogeochemical tracers. Understanding Beaufort Gyre KE variability sheds light on how this freshwater reservoir responds to wind forcing and sea ice and ocean changes. The evolution and fate of mesoscale eddies relate to energy pathways in the ocean (e.g., the exchange of energy between barotropic and baroclinic modes). Mooring measurements of horizontal velocities in the Beaufort Gyre are analyzed to partition KE into barotropic and baroclinic modes and explore their evolution. We find that a significant fraction of water column KE is in the barotropic and the first two baroclinic modes. We explain this energy partitioning by quantifying the energy transfer coefficients between the vertical modes using the quasi-geostrophic potential vorticity conservation equations with a specific background stratification observed in the Beaufort Gyre. We find that the quasi-geostrophic vertical mode interactions uphold the persistence of KE in the first two baroclinic modes, consistent with observations. Our results explain the specific role of halocline structure on KE evolution in the gyre and suggest depressed transfer to the barotropic mode. This limits the capacity for frictional dissipation at the sea floor and suggests that energy dissipation via sea ice-ocean drag may be prominent.