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Work done by atmospheric winds on mesoscale ocean eddies
Author(s) -
Xu Chi,
Zhai Xiaoming,
Shang XiaoDong
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2016gl071275
Subject(s) - mesoscale meteorology , ocean gyre , eddy , anticyclone , boundary current , geology , climatology , baroclinity , oceanography , ocean heat content , ocean current , altimeter , atmospheric sciences , environmental science , meteorology , subtropics , geography , turbulence , remote sensing , fishery , biology
Mesoscale eddies are ubiquitous in the ocean and dominate the ocean's kinetic energy. However, physical processes influencing ocean eddy energy remain poorly understood. Mesoscale ocean eddy‐wind interaction potentially provides an energy flux into or out of the eddy field, but its effect on ocean eddies has not yet been determined. Here we examine work done by atmospheric winds on more than 1,200,000 mesoscale eddies identified from satellite altimetry data and show that atmospheric winds significantly damp mesoscale ocean eddies, particularly in the energetic western boundary current regions and the Southern Ocean. Furthermore, the large‐scale wind stress curl is found to on average systematically inject kinetic energy into anticyclonic (cyclonic) eddies in the subtropical (subpolar) gyres while mechanically damps anticyclonic (cyclonic) eddies in the subpolar (subtropical) gyres.