Circulation in the Gulf of Mexico from Geosat altimetry during 1985–1986

Johnson, Donald R.; Thompson, J. Dana; Hawkins, Jeffrey D.

doi:10.1029/90jc02400

Cited by 22 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 20 publications

(22 reference statements)

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“…We found this type of splitting precisely described the fate of Fourchon. Johnson et al (1992) used GEOSAT altimetry to track two LCRs. His Figure 3 shows a sharp decay in the SSH signature of these rings near 93W.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Forristall et al (1992) examined the evolution of a single LCR near 92W using both hydrography and drifters launched into a pair of eddies (Fast Eddy and Ghost Eddy). Johnson et al (1992) reported 'an eddy of uncertain origin' in the SST record for the same time period. Biggs et al (1996) observed the cleavage of Eddy Triton into two distinct pieces due to interaction with a trailing coldcore ring.…”

Section: Journal Of Marine Researchmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…As documented by Indest et al (1989), Johnson et al (1992), LCRs typically have diameters of several hundred kilometers and swirl speeds exceeding 1 m s −1 .…”

Section: Journal Of Marine Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, inferring the evolution of individual ring water masses from these observations is limited by several factors. The surface temperature signature of LCRs is often obscured by cloud cover or seasonal near-surface heating (Johnson et al, 1992). Due to limited spatial and temporal coverage of individual satellite tracks, synoptic SSH anomalies produced from optimal interpolation can only resolve spatial features of the order of 50 km and represent moving time averages with windows of one to two weeks (Hamilton, 2007).…”

Section: Journal Of Marine Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Death of three Loop Current rings

Lipphardt¹,

Poje²,

Kirwan³

et al. 2008

J Mar Res

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The life cycle of large anticyclonic rings in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) is widely described by pinch off from the Loop Current, migration across the Gulf and eventual spin down along the western slope. Extensive observational and modeling efforts provide a relatively consistent picture of rings pinching off from the Loop Current and of complex interaction between anticyclones and cyclones driven by bathymetry along the western and northwestern shelf. The observational record for Loop Current rings (LCRs) during the intermediate period of westward translation is less clear. A number of studies recognize distinct anomalies in LCR characteristics in deep water as the rings enter the western Gulf near 92-94W. These include abrupt changes in the geometry of observed drifter trajectories and derived eddy parameter fits as well as changes in both ring translation speeds and the estimated rate of ring decay. Such observations are consistent with intense interaction and mass exchange between the rings and other coherent mesoscale features known to be present in the western Gulf. We test the hypothesis that interactions with the ambient mesoscale field can lead to rapid loss of coherence of some LCRs well before they reach the 'eddy graveyard' in the western Gulf. We use the data-assimilating, eddyresolving numerical GOM model described by Kantha et al. (2005) to assess the fates of readily identified LCRs Fourchon, Juggernaut, and Millenium during the period July 1998 to August 2001. Lagrangian metrics, including relative dispersion of small drifter clusters seeded in the ring cores, analysis of evolving blobs seeded in the ring cores, and finite-scale Lyapunov exponents, are used to track model ring evolution. These metrics clearly show that interactions with existing mesoscale cyclones and anticyclones caused Fourchon and Juggernaut to break up near 92W on advective time scales. In addition, Millenium also experienced an intense deformation, stirring, and mixing episode near 92W. Blob studies showed that the core fluid of Millenium was ultimately dispersed over much of the western basin. Our results show that some LCRs may break up through interactions with existing western Gulf cyclones and anticyclones prior to reaching the western slope.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Journal Of Marine Researchmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…As documented by Indest et al (1989), Johnson et al (1992), LCRs typically have diameters of several hundred kilometers and swirl speeds exceeding 1 m s −1 .…”

Section: Journal Of Marine Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Journal Of Marine Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Death of three Loop Current rings

Lipphardt¹,

Poje²,

Kirwan³

et al. 2008

J Mar Res

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“…However, we still believe it is worthwhile as being the only direct way to estimate surface eddy forces. Most of the studies tackling eddy forces have taken advantage of altimetry products with their own uncertainty associated with time and space resolution (e.g., Johnson et al, 1992;Morrow et al, 1994;Hughes and Ash, 2001). Eddy vorticity fluxes show that eddies tend to accelerate the mean field above the ridges, while they decelerate it downstream, consistent with Thompson and Sallée (2012).…”

Section: Seasonal Variability and Eddy-mean Flow Interactionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aspects of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current dynamics investigated with drifter data

Trani

Falco

Zambianchi

et al. 2014

Progress in Oceanography

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Please cite this article as: Trani, M., Falco, P., Zambianchi, E., Sallée, J.B., Aspects of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current dynamics investigated with drifter data, Progress in Oceanography (2014), doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/ j.pocean. 2014.05.001 This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. Keywords: Southern Ocean; drifters; eddy flux; subduction; topographic effects. AbstractInteractions between eddies and mean flow are essential to close the momentum budget of the Southern Ocean, as well as to determine the structure of the global meridional overturning circulation. Both the structure of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and the eddy dynamics arising at its heart are importantfor water-mass circulation and global ocean ventilation, and therefore for the global climate. However, the characterization of the eddy fields of heat and momentum are still 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 2 observations emphasizes, once more, the importance of continuing sustained effort to better represent the effect of mesoscale eddies in a coarse climate model, if we are to represent and predict future climate.

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