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Mesoscale-submesoscale interactions in the Gulf of Mexico: From oil dispersion to climate

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  • Bracco, Annalisa
  • Liu, Guangpeng
  • Sun, Daoxun

Abstract

In the ocean, forcing acts at planetary scales and dissipation at the microscales. In between are the mesoscales, in a lot of respects akin to nearly two-dimensional, quasi-geostrophically, balanced turbulence. Eddies and fronts, extending from ten to hundred kilometers, represent their best-known dynamical expression. At the ocean boundary layers, near the surface and at the bottom, smaller ageostrophic, coherent flow structures may appear in the form of vorticity filaments, density fronts or coherent vortices, with typical scales of hundreds of meters to few kilometers and a lifespan of few days. These so-called submesoscale circulations provide a pathway for energy transfer towards smaller scales, contribute to the global overturning budget, and impact substantially lateral and diapycnal mixing. They develop in presence of density gradients in the turbulent boundary layers, and their statistics are not well known in a global sense, but are likely to change in the future due to projected changes in near surface stratification.

Suggested Citation

  • Bracco, Annalisa & Liu, Guangpeng & Sun, Daoxun, 2019. "Mesoscale-submesoscale interactions in the Gulf of Mexico: From oil dispersion to climate," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 63-72.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:chsofr:v:119:y:2019:i:c:p:63-72
    DOI: 10.1016/j.chaos.2018.12.012
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jörn Callies & Raffaele Ferrari & Jody M. Klymak & Jonathan Gula, 2015. "Seasonality in submesoscale turbulence," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 6(1), pages 1-8, November.
    2. Jonathan Gula & M. Jeroen Molemaker & James C. McWilliams, 2016. "Topographic generation of submesoscale centrifugal instability and energy dissipation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-7, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. Aguirre, J. & Almendral, J.A. & Buldú, J.M. & Criado, R. & Gutiérrez, R. & Leyva, I. & Romance, M. & Sendiña-Nadal, I., 2019. "Experimental complexity in physical, social and biological systems," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 200-202.

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