Observations of near-inertial kinetic energy inside mesoscale eddies.

The near-nertial oscillations (NIOs), generated by the wind stress on the surface mixed layer, are the inertia gravity waves with the lowest frequency and the highest kinetic energy. NIOs are important because they drive vertical mixing in the interior ocean during wave breaking events. Although the interaction between NIOs and mesoescale eddies has been reported by several authors, these studies are mostly analytical and numerical, and only few observational studies have attempted to show the differences in near-inertial kinetic energy (KEi) between anticyclonic and cyclonic eddies. In this work the spatial structure of the KEi inside the mesoscale eddies is computed using daily satellite altimetry and observations of horizontal velocity from 30 moorings equipped with acoustic Doppler current profilers in the western Gulf of Mexico. Consistent to theory, the obtained four-year KEi-composites show two times more KEi inside the anticyclonic eddies than inside the cyclonic ones. The vertical cross-sections of the KEi-composites show that the KEi is mainly located near the surface and at the edge of the cyclonic eddies (positive vorticity), whereas the KEi in anticyclonic eddies (negative vorticity) is maximum in the eddy’s center and near to the base of the eddy where the NIOs become more inertial, are trapped, and amplified. A relative maximum in the upper anticyclonic eddy is also observed. The cyclonic eddies present a maximum of KEi near to the surface at ~70 m, while the maximum of KEi in the anticyclonic eddies occurs between 800 and 1000 m. It is also shown the dependence between the distribution and magnitude of the KEi and the eddy’s characteristics such as radius, vorticity, and amplitude.