Work Done by Atmospheric Winds on Mesoscale Ocean Eddies

Mesoscale eddies are ubiquitous in the ocean and dominate the ocean's kinetic energy. However, physical processes influencing ocean eddy energy remains poorly understood. Mesoscale ocean eddy-wind interaction potentially provides an important 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. We then show that the large-scale wind stress curl systematically injects kinetic energy into anticyclonic (cyclonic) eddies in the subtropical (subpolar) gyres, while mechanically damps anticyclonic (cyclonic) eddies in the subpolar (subtropical) gyres. We conclude that mesoscale ocean eddy-wind interaction can have a significant impact on ocean eddy energetics, with implications for the role the eddies play in ocean circulation and climate.