Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Eddies can carry water over hundreds of kilometers, but there is also water leakage during eddy movement. By tracking the global drifters' trajectories related to oceanic eddies, we find that, in the Northern (Southern) Hemisphere, drifters in the eddies tend to leave anticyclonic/cyclonic eddies from the rear left/right (right/left) side relative to the eddy movement direction. A further simulation displays that there are potential vorticity (PV) channel structures in eddies' margins, and particles tend to leave the eddies via the channel. Theoretical analyses illustrate that particles on the PV channel always propagate oppositely to the eddy rotation due to the relative vorticity gradient of eddy flow. This study offers a new perspective on eddies' leakage and may be crucial for investigating oceanic mass redistribution.
Source: Geophysical Research Letters
DOI: 10.1029/2024gl113486
Authors: Yanjiang Lin, Guihua Wang
Institution: Fudan University
Language: English
Subfield: Oceanography
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,190
Awards: G8653591759, G8701663024
OpenAlex ID: W4409365057