Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2002
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002georl..29w..39s&link_type=abstract
Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 29, Issue 23, pp. 39-1, CiteID 2124, DOI 10.1029/2002GL015701
Physics
4
Oceanography: Physical: Upper Ocean Processes, Oceanography: Physical: Currents, Oceanography: General: Numerical Modeling
Scientific paper
The ubiquitous occurrence of submesoscale cyclonic spirals in the sea as inferred from space imagery is interpreted in terms of the inertial instability of a horizontally sheared current in the oceanic mixed layer. The instability is shown to weaken anticyclonic current shear while enhancing cyclonic shear, which, in turn, becomes unstable and creates a cyclonic vortex; concurrently, surface tracer particles concentrated along the evolving cyclonic shear are wound up into a spiral, mimicking the spiral slick patterns seen in the imagery. The entire process, investigated with a fully nonlinear nonhydrostatic 3D numerical model, is contrasted with the baroclinic frontal process considered previously. The differences point to a clear need for field observations of this significant phenomenon, which are presently almost totally lacking.
Evans Thomas E.
Shen Colin Y.
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