Mesoscale Eddy Buoyancy Flux and Eddy-Induced Circulation in Eastern Boundary Currents

International audienceA dynamical interpretation is made of the mesoscale eddy buoyancy fluxes in the Eastern Boundary Currents off California and Peru-Chile, based on regional equilibrium simulations. The eddy fluxes are primarily shoreward and upward across a swath several hundred kilometers wide in the upper ocean; as such they serve to balance mean offshore air-sea heating and coastal upwelling. In the stratified interior the eddy fluxes are consistent with the adiabatic hypothesis associated with a mean eddy-induced velocity advecting mean buoyancy and tracers. Furthermore, with a suitable gauge choice, the horizontal fluxes are almost entirely aligned with the mean horizontal buoyancy gradient, consistent with the advective parameterization scheme of Gent and McWilliams. The associated diffusivity κ is surface intensified, matching the vertical stratification profile. The fluxes span the across-shore band of high eddy energy, but their alongshore structure is unresolved because of sampling limitations. In the surface layer the eddy flux is significantly diabatic with a shallow eddy-induced circulation cell and downgradient lateral diapycnal flux. The dominant eddy generation process is baroclinic instability, but there are significant regional differences between the upwelling systems in the flux and κ that are not consistent with simple instability theory