Open AccessEddies contribute to striations in sea surface topography
Author(s) -
Balcerak Ernie
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
eos, transactions american geophysical union
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 2324-9250
pISSN - 0096-3941
DOI - 10.1002/2013eo130017
Subject(s) - eddy , geology , zonal and meridional , sea surface height , mesoscale meteorology , geophysics , altimeter , oceanography , geodesy , meteorology , turbulence , geography
Scientists recently observed striations in sea surface topography in all ocean basins. These striations appear as alternating mesoscale jet‐like structures; they have speeds on the order of 1 centimeter per second and are typically separated by about 200 kilometers in the meridional direction. The cause of these striations has been debated. Contributing to this scientific discussion, Buckingham and Cornillon used a database of tracked eddies and a contour identification and eddy removal algorithm to show that eddies are a significant source of striations. The authors noted that a small portion of the energy was unaccounted for by propagating eddies, allowing for the existence of weak zonal flows. ( Journal of Geophysical Research‐Oceans , doi:10.1029/2012JC008231, 2013)