Eddies connect the tropical Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico

Huang, Minghai; Liang, Xinfeng; Zhu, Yingli; Liu, Yonggang; Weisberg, Robert

doi:10.1002/essoar.10504535.1

Cited by 4 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…On the Atlantic side of the Lesser Antilles, the flow is dominated by anticyclonic North Brazil Current (NBC) rings that collide with this island arc. In contrast to previous studies (Huang et al., 2021; van Westen et al., 2018), who based their analysis on the propagation of sea level anomalies, we concluded that Caribbean anticyclones are not remnants of NBC rings and that the bulk of their vorticity is locally generated near the island arc. Our model results indicate that the vertical structure of these anticyclonic eddies is diverse.…”

Section: Summary Discussion and Conclusioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Generation of Vorticity Near Topography: Anticyclones in the Caribbean Sea

et al. 2022

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Section: Summary Discussion and Conclusioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Generation of Vorticity Near Topography: Anticyclones in the Caribbean Sea

et al. 2022

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“…Some fluid is indeed seen to penetrate into the Caribbean Sea, consistent with direct measurements of biogeochemical tracers (E. M. Johns et al., 2014). But this is accompanied by substantial filamentation, even southeastward, more consistent with the observed resistance of drifters and floats to bypass the Lesser Antilles Fratantoni and Richardson (2004) than with NBCRs connecting the tropical Atlantic with the Caribbean Sea (Huang et al., 2021).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 54%

“…Here we question Huang et al. (2021) results based on theoretical arguments, specialized SSH data analysis, and observations by Fratantoni and Richardson (2004) of satellite‐tracked surface drifters and submerged floats, which show that they hardly traverse the Lesser Antilles. The main issue with the analysis by Huang et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 55%

“…Moreover, the instantaneous geostrophic velocity field rotates anticyclonically along track #74667, and the vector field shown by Huang et al. (2021) immediately west of the Lesser Antilles inside the eastern Caribbean rotates cyclonically! On the other hand, the nonlinear parameter for this SSH eddy 10 < U / c < 25 approximately from 13 August 03 through 24 February 04.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 85%

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Do Eddies Connect the Tropical Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico?

Andrade-Canto

Beron-Vera

2022

Geophysical Research Letters

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As mesoscale oceanic eddies, they have potential long-range ability of dragging along various types of tracers (e.g., nutrients, salinity, larvae) (Robinson, 1983), and, in particular, Sargassum rafts (Beron-Vera & Miron, 2020). The argument of Huang et al. (2021) is based on the tracking of Eulerian footprints of mesoscale vortices on satellite-altimetry gridded maps of sea-surface height (SSH) anomaly (Schlax & Chelton, 2016) and absolute dynamic topography (Rio et al., 2011). Here we question Huang et al. (2021) results based on theoretical arguments, specialized SSH data analysis, and observations by Fratantoni and Richardson (2004) of satellite-tracked surface drifters and submerged floats, which show that they hardly traverse the Lesser Antilles. The main issue with the analysis by Huang et al. ( 2021) is its observer-dependent nature. We reiterate below, one more time, the issue with the Eulerian, streamline-based analysis carried out by Huang et al. (2021), no matter how sophisticated it is made (e.g., through lagged correlations and the construction of Hovmöller plots of stitched fields on one side and of the other of the Lesser Antilles) or how arbitrary it is framed (e.g., by following a particular isoline of SSH).Consider the velocity field u(x, t) = (x sin 4t + y(2 + cos 4t), x(cos 4t − 2) − y sin 4t), where 𝐴𝐴 𝐱𝐱 = (𝑥𝑥𝑥 𝑥𝑥) ∈ ℝ 2 denotes position and 𝐴𝐴 𝐴𝐴∈ ℝ is time, which represents an exact linear solution of the two-dimensional Navier-Stokes equation (Haller, 2005). The flow streamlines are closed at all times suggesting an elliptic structure, that is, a vortex. Moreover, the most common Eulerian criteria (Q, λ 2 , Δ, swirling strength, etc., cf. Haller ( 2005))

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“…As this study started, individual satellite SSS is capable of resolving the upper register of the mesoscale spectrum (spatial scale of 50–500 km and temporal scale of 10–100 days) (e.g., Hasson et al., 2019; Huang et al., 2021; Kolodziejczyk et al., 2021; Lin et al., 2019; Melnichenko et al., 2021; Olivier et al., 2020). These scales play an important role in the mixing and exchanges of water masses close to fronts, as a result of ocean circulation and atmospheric fluxes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Satellite‐Based Sea Surface Salinity Designed for Ocean and Climate Studies

et al. 2021

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Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) is an increasingly used Essential Ocean and Climate Variable. The Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS), Aquarius, and Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite missions all provide SSS measurements, with very different instrumental features leading to specific measurement characteristics. The Climate Change Initiative Salinity project (CCI + SSS) aims to produce a SSS Climate Data Record (CDR) that addresses well‐established user needs based on those satellite measurements. To generate a homogeneous CDR, instrumental differences are carefully adjusted based on in‐depth analysis of the measurements themselves, together with some limited use of independent reference data. An optimal interpolation in the time domain without temporal relaxation to reference data or spatial smoothing is applied. This allows preserving the original datasets variability. SSS CCI fields are well suited for monitoring weekly to interannual signals, at spatial scales ranging from 50 km to the basin scale. They display large year‐to‐year seasonal variations over the 2010–2019 decade, sometimes by more than ±0.4 over large regions. The robust standard deviation of the monthly CCI SSS minus in situ Argo salinities is 0.15 globally, while it is at least 0.20 with individual satellite SSS fields. r2 is 0.97, similar or better than with original datasets. The correlation with independent ship thermosalinographs SSS further highlights the CCI data set excellent performance, especially near land areas. During the SMOS‐Aquarius period, when the representativity uncertainties are the largest, r2 is 0.84 with CCI while it is 0.48 with the Aquarius original data set. SSS CCI data are freely available and will be updated and extended as more satellite data become available.

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Eddies connect the tropical Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico

Cited by 4 publications

References 19 publications

Generation of Vorticity Near Topography: Anticyclones in the Caribbean Sea

Generation of Vorticity Near Topography: Anticyclones in the Caribbean Sea

Do Eddies Connect the Tropical Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico?

Satellite‐Based Sea Surface Salinity Designed for Ocean and Climate Studies

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