Oceanic Vortices

Carton, Xavier

doi:10.1007/978-3-642-11587-5_3

Cited by 16 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 151 publications

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“…Eddies generation from a coastal or slope current are usually result of barotropic, baroclinic, Kelvin-Helmoltz, or ageostrophic frontal instabilities. A general review on these processes is presented in Carton (2010). In this case, the influence of topography and the coincidence between the different cores of the slope currents and the distribution of eddies in the vertical, suggests that the eddies in the three layers form through a mechanism of separation of the slope currents, consistent with the mechanism proposed by D'Asaro (1988) for the formation of an anticyclone observed off Alaska.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 75%

Circulation on the Northwestern Iberian Margin: Swoddies

Teles-Machado

Peliz

McWilliams

et al. 2016

Progress in Oceanography

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We study the eddies that form by the destabilization of the Iberian Poleward Current. Some anticyclones have been identified in satellite Sea Surface Temperature, as they are persistent and remarkably warm, and they contain IPC waters in their core. The number of observed eddies is small, so not much is known about their statistics, places of formation, separation processes, and behavior away from the slope. In this study, the output of a 20-year high-resolution simulation is analyzed to study the formation of anticyclonic and cyclonic eddies by the destabilization of the Iberian Poleward Current, using an automatic eddy detection algorithm. The model reproduces the formation of some of the eddies at the same time and place, and with similar sizes as observed in satellite SST, although it is not able to reproduce their observed trajectories as they propagate away from the slope. We found there are distinct layers in the vertical, with different characteristics in terms of relative vorticity distribution. The top 200 m of the water column has an anticyclonic dominance, with stronger anticyclones; in the layer between 200 and 600 m depth the dominance is cyclonic, with more and stronger cyclones; and from 600 to 1000 m there is again an anticyclonic dominance, with more and stronger anticyclones than cyclones. The results show that the cyclones form mainly where topographic contours veer cyclonically in the poleward direction, while the anticyclones tend to form in places where topographic contours veer anticyclonically. We found there is a relationship of eddies formation with the wind variability. A sudden decrease in southerly winds, results in the development of instabilities in the IPC and formation of eddies. The shedding of the surface intensified anticyclones is accompanied by the shedding of deeper layer cyclones. In general the deep cyclones spin down faster than the surface anticyclones; anticyclones are generally tracked, and conserve their maximum relative 1

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 75%

Circulation on the Northwestern Iberian Margin: Swoddies

Teles-Machado

Peliz

McWilliams

et al. 2016

Progress in Oceanography

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“… Baey and Carton [2002] have studied the stability of nonlinear eddies of both polarities (cyclones and anticyclones) with similar velocity profiles; their analytical and numerical results indicate that anticyclones are more stable than cyclones, for Rossby numbers larger than one half. Carton and Bertrand [1994] have also shown that anticyclones merge more easily than cyclones when the Rossby number is also about one half.…”

Section: Meddy Evolution and Trajectories From Observationsmentioning

confidence: 93%

Meddy dynamics and interaction with neighboring eddies southwest of Portugal: Observations and modeling

et al. 2010

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[1] During the SEMANE 2000 experiment southwest of Portugal, two meddies were found in near contact. These meddies had hydrological radii of about 20 and 30 km, thickness of 900 m, maximum temperatures of 12.45°C and 13.45°C, and maximum salinities of 36.52 and 36.78. The smaller meddy with more pronounced thermohaline anomalies was clearly double cored (at 750 and 1300 m depths) while the wider one was more diffuse and more homogeneous. The associated geostrophic velocities (referenced at 2000 m) locally reached 0.5 m/s in the smaller meddy, and 0.2 m/s in the wider one. Three RAFOS floats and two deep-drogued surface drifters, seeded in the two meddies, rapidly gathered in the more intense meddy. This meddy trajectory, revealed by the float motion, was first eastward, then southward. Maps of sea level anomaly indicate that this motion did not correspond to the long-term evolution of the initial positive sea level anomaly signature of the meddies, and that neighboring cyclones must have played a role in the meddy evolution. To determine the role of each eddy in the observed evolution, several scenarios were studied with a three-layer quasi-geostrophic numerical model. The interaction of two meddies in isolation did not result in the observed meddy trajectories on the long term. The interaction of these two meddies with successive neighboring cyclones provided a more realistic trajectory of the meddy containing the floats.

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“…Ocean eddies have significant influence on the lateral transport of heat, momentum, chemical tracers, nutrients, biological species, and anomalous water properties [see Carton , ]. In the Arctic Ocean, eddies have been observed at all depths and in all regions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterizing the eddy field in the Arctic Ocean halocline

Zhao

Timmermans

Cole

et al. 2014

J. Geophys. Res. Oceans

174

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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.

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Oceanic Vortices

Cited by 16 publications

References 151 publications

Circulation on the Northwestern Iberian Margin: Swoddies

Circulation on the Northwestern Iberian Margin: Swoddies

Meddy dynamics and interaction with neighboring eddies southwest of Portugal: Observations and modeling

Characterizing the eddy field in the Arctic Ocean halocline

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