Mass Transport By Oceanic Mesoscale Eddies

ORAL

Abstract

Mass transport in the ocean plays a crucial role in regulating Earth's cli- mate and natural marine resources. The oceanic circulation spans a vast range of scales, spanning from O(1) mm to tens of thousands of kilometers. Mesoscale eddies, which range in size from tens of kilometers to a few hundred kilometers, account for a significant fraction of the ocean's total kinetic energy. Previous works analyzed the transport using eddy detection techniques, which consider eddies as closed contours dominated by vorticity. In this study we employ coarse-graining and Lagrangian tracking techniques to analyse mass transport induced by the mesoscales. We rely on data from satellite altimetry, which provides ocean surface currents globally.

*This research was supported by NASA grant 80NSSC18K0772 and NSF grant OCE-2123496. Partial support from DOE grant DE-SC0020229 and NSF grant PHY-2020249 is also acknowledged.

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Presenters

  • Mehrnoush Kharghani

    • university of Rochester

Authors

  • Mehrnoush Kharghani

    • university of Rochester

  • Benjamin Storer

    • University of Rochester
    • UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER

  • Shikhar Rai

    • University of Rochester

  • Hussein Aluie

    • Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14625, USA
    • Dept. of Mechanical Engg, University of Rochester
    • Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA
    • Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Rochester
    • University of Rochester