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    The occurrence, drivers, and implications of submesoscale eddies on the Martha’s Vineyard Inner Shelf

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    jpo-d-15-0191%2E1.pdf (2.222Mb)
    Date
    2016-08-19
    Author
    Kirincich, Anthony R.  Concept link
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    Citable URI
    https://hdl.handle.net/1912/8492
    As published
    https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-15-0191.1
    Related Material/Data
    https://hdl.handle.net/1912/8018
    DOI
    10.1175/JPO-D-15-0191.1
    Keyword
     Geographic location/entity; Continental shelf/slope; Circulation/ Dynamics; Currents; Eddies; Observational techniques and algorithms; Radars/Radar observations 
    Abstract
    The occurrence, drivers, and implications of small-scale O(2–5) km diameter coherent vortices, referred to as submesoscale eddies, over the inner shelf south of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, are examined using high-frequency (HF), radar-based, high-resolution (400 m) observations of surface currents. Within the 300 km2 study area, eddies occurred at rates of 1 and 4 day−1 in winter and summer, respectively. Most were less than 5 h in duration, smaller than 4 km in diameter, and rotated less than once over their lifespan; 60% of the eddies formed along the eastern edge of study area, adjacent to Wasque Shoal, and moved westward into the interior, often with relative vorticity greater than f. Eddy generation was linked to vortex stretching on the ebb and flood tide as well as the interaction of the spatially variable tide and the wind-driven currents; however, these features had complex patterns of surface divergence and stretching. Eddies located away from Wasque Shoal were related to the movement of wind-driven surface currents, as wind direction controlled where eddies formed as well as density effects. Using an analysis of particles advected within the radar-based surface currents, the observed eddies were found to be generally leaky, losing 60%–80% of particles over their lifespan, but still more retentive than the background flow. As a result, the combined translation and rotational effects of the observed eddies were an important source of lateral exchange for surface waters over the inner shelf.
    Description
    Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2016. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 46 (2016): 2645-2662, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-15-0191.1.
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    • Physical Oceanography (PO)
    Suggested Citation
    Journal of Physical Oceanography 46 (2016): 2645-2662
     

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