Interface Exchange as an Indicator for Eddy Heat Transport

Abstract

The ocean contains many large-scale, long-lived vortices, called mesoscale eddies, that are believed to have a role in the transport and redistribution of salt, heat, and nutrients throughout the ocean. Determining this role, however, has proven to be a challenge, since the mechanics of eddies are only partly understood; a standard definition for these ocean eddies does not exist and, therefore, scientifically meaningful, robust methods for eddy extraction, characterization, tracking and visualization remain a challenge. To shed light on the nature and potential roles of eddies, we extend our previous work on eddy identification and tracking to construct a new metric to characterize the transfer of water into and out of eddies across their boundary, and produce several visualizations of this new metric to provide clues about the role eddies play in the global ocean.