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This study examines the mesoscale and submesoscale circulations along thecontinental slope in the northern Gulf of Mexico at depths greater than 1000 m.The investigation is performed using a regional model run at two horizontalgrid resolutions, 5 km and 1.6 km, over a three year period from January 2010to December 2012. Ageostrophic submesoscale eddies, and vorticity filamentspopulate the continental slope, and they are stronger and more abundant in thesimulation at higher resolution, as to be expected. They are formed fromhorizontal shear layers at the edges of highly intermittent,bottom-intensified, along-slope boundary currents and in the cores of thosecurrents when they are confined on steep slopes. The horizontal resolutioninfluences the representation of the lateral and vertical transport ofneutrally buoyant tracers. This is exemplified by a passive dye deployed nearthe Macondo Prospect, where the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in 2010, and atthe largest known natural hydrocarbon seep in the northern Gulf, few hundredkilometers to the west of the rig wellhead. The first site is characterized byweak mean currents and, in the high resolution run, by intense submesoscaleeddies that form to the west of the Macondo Prospect. GC600, on the other hand,is surrounded by a complicated bathymetry, and its flow is highly variable. Thetrapping exerted by the submesoscale eddies and vorticity filaments near therig constrain the spreading in the vicinity of the Macondo Prospect, and as aresult, patchiness in the passive tracer distributions differs in the twointegrations, despite similar diffusivities expressing the average spreadingrate. The tracer released at GC600, on the other hand, is dispersed moreeffectively in the first six months in the higher resolution case due toenhanced near-bottom turbulent mixing.

Submesoscale circulation in the Northern Gulf of Mexico: Deep phenomena and dispersion over the continental slope