Stirring in the global surface ocean

Stirring in the global surface ocean

[1] Global variations of stirring in the surface ocean are quantified using finite-time Lyapunov exponents (FTLEs) calculated from currents derived from satellite altimetry. It is shown that the stirring is highly non-uniform, and the probability distribution functions (PDFs) of the FTLEs are broad, asymmetric, and have long high-stretch tails. The characteristics of the PDFs vary with mesoscal...

Eddy stirring in the Southern Ocean

[1] There is an ongoing debate concerning the distribution of eddy stirring across the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) and the nature of its controlling processes. The problem is addressed here by estimating the isentropic eddy diffusivity from a collection of hydrographic and altimetric observations, analyzed in a mixing length theoretical framework. It is shown that, typically, is suppres...

Ocean Stirring by Swimming Bodies

The timescales of global surface-ocean connectivity

Planktonic communities are shaped through a balance of local evolutionary adaptation and ecological succession driven in large part by migration. The timescales over which these processes operate are still largely unresolved. Here we use Lagrangian particle tracking and network theory to quantify the timescale over which surface currents connect different regions of the global ocean. We find th...

Heat, Salt, and Surface Elevation Changes in the Global Ocean

6 Estimates are made of the 20-year time means and their time evolution over that pe7 riod of oceanic temperature, salinity, and sea surface height, during the data-dense inter8 val 1994-2013–along with heuristic estimates of their uncertainties. Values are computed 9 from a state estimate calculated from a free-running ocean-ice general circulation model 10 whose initial/boundary conditions an...