Identification and census statistics of multicore eddies based on sea surface height data in global oceans

Wei Cui; Wei Wang; Jie Zhang; Jungang Yang

doi:10.1007/s13131-019-1519-y

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Wei Cui, Wei Wang, Jie Zhang, Jungang Yang. Identification and census statistics of multicore eddies based on sea surface height data in global oceans[J]. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 2020, 39(1): 41-51. doi: 10.1007/s13131-019-1519-y

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Wei Cui, Wei Wang, Jie Zhang, Jungang Yang. Identification and census statistics of multicore eddies based on sea surface height data in global oceans[J]. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 2020, 39(1): 41-51. doi: 10.1007/s13131-019-1519-y

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Identification and census statistics of multicore eddies based on sea surface height data in global oceans

doi: 10.1007/s13131-019-1519-y

Wei Cui^{1, 2},
Wei Wang²,
Jie Zhang¹,
Jungang Yang^{1
,
,}

1.
First Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Qingdao 266061, China
2.
Physical Oceanography Lab, Qingdao Collaborative Innovation Center of Marine Science and Technology, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China

Funds: The National Key Reasearch and Development Program of China under contract No. 2016YFC1401800; the National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract No. 41576176; the National Programme on Global Change and Air-Sea Interaction; Dragon 4 Project under contract No. 32292 .

More Information

Corresponding author: Jungang Yang (yangjg@fio.org.cn)
Received Date: 2018-07-28
Accepted Date: 2018-11-05

Available Online: 2020-04-21

Publish Date: 2020-01-20

Abstract

Abstract

This study produced a statistical analysis of multicore eddy structures based on 23 years' altimetry data in global oceans. Multicore structures were identified using a threshold-free closed-contour algorithm of sea surface height, which was improved for this study in respect of certain technical details. Meanwhile a more accurate definition of eddy boundary was used to estimate eddy scale. Generally, multicore structures, which have two or more closed eddies of the same polarity within their boundaries, represent an important transitional stage in their lives during which the component eddies might experience splitting or merging. In comparison with global eddies, the lifetimes and propagation distances of multicore eddies were found to be much smaller because of their inherent structural instability. However, at the same latitude, the spatial scale of multicore eddies was found larger than that of single-core eddies, i.e., the eddy area could be at least twice as large. Multicore eddies were found to exhibit some features similar to global eddies. For example, multicore eddies tend to occur in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, some western boundary currents, and mid-latitude regions around 25°N/S, the majority (70%) of eddies propagate westward while only 30% propagate eastward, and large-amplitude eddies are restricted mainly to reasonably confined regions of highly unstable currents.
- satellite altimetry,
- mesoscale eddy,
- multicore structure,
- eddy identification,
- eddy characteristic

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References(40)

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