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AGU: Geophysical Research Letters

 

Index Terms

  • Oceanography: Physical: Eddies and mesoscale processes
  • Oceanography: Physical: Eastern boundary currents
  • Oceanography: General: Remote sensing and electromagnetic processes

Abstract

GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 31, L24311, 5 PP., 2004
doi:10.1029/2004GL020974

Divergent pathways of cyclonic and anti-cyclonic ocean eddies

Rosemary Morrow

Laboratoire d'Etudes en Géophysique et Océanographie Spatiales, Toulouse, France

Florence Birol

Laboratoire d'Etudes en Géophysique et Océanographie Spatiales, Toulouse, France

David Griffin

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization Marine Research, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

Joël Sudre

Laboratoire d'Etudes en Géophysique et Océanographie Spatiales, Toulouse, France

Satellite altimetry is used to study the propagation pathways of warm and cold ocean eddies in different ocean basins. We consider eddies that have a life span longer than 3 months, and we present three regional studies: in the southeast Indian, the southeast Atlantic, and the northeast Pacific Oceans. The case studies show that simple theories for vortex propagation on a β-plane work in regions where energetic eddies propagate though a weak background flow. Under these conditions, anticyclonic/cyclonic eddies propagate westward and equatorward/poleward. This divergence in the eddy pathways implies a net equatorward eddy heat flux, and has implications for the meridional transport of freshwater, carbon, nutrients, etc.

Received 9 July 2004; accepted 9 November 2004; published 30 December 2004.

Citation: Morrow, R., F. Birol, D. Griffin, and J. Sudre (2004), Divergent pathways of cyclonic and anti-cyclonic ocean eddies, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L24311, doi:10.1029/2004GL020974.

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