PO11C:
Mesoscale and Submesoscale Processes: Characterization, Dynamics, and Representation I


Session ID#: 9469

Session Description:
Mesoscale and submesoscale features such as coherent eddies, fronts, jets, and striations are ubiquitous in the world ocean. These features contribute significantly to horizontal and vertical transport and mixing, and have important interactions with the larger and smaller scale circulations, as well as with the physical and biogeochemical components of the climate system. However many aspects of their structure, evolution, and impacts are not fully understood, and they remain poorly represented in large-scale models.

This unified session invites reports on theoretical, observational, and modeling studies on all topics relating to mesoscale and submesoscale phenomena such as eddies, fronts, and jets, and in particular on the following three themes:
(i) Detection, observation, and description of mesoscale and submesoscale features and their dynamics
(ii) Understanding mesoscale and submesoscale impacts, transport characteristics, and interactions with the circulation, as well as surface, biogeochemical and climate processes
(iii) Representing mesoscale and submesoscale processes in numerical models, and model sensitivity to such parameterizations.

We aim to showcase novel methods and results that make the most of the rapidly growing sophistication of the datasets and models available, with the hope of inspiring an improved understanding of eddy processes and their role in the global climate system.
Primary Chair:  Stephanie Waterman, University of British Columbia, Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Chairs:  Shane R Keating, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia, Ryo Furue, JAMSTEC Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Kanagawa, Japan and Mehmet Ilicak, Uni Research, Bergen, Norway
Moderators:  Stephanie Waterman, University of British Columbia, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Vancouver, BC, Canada, Erik van Sebille, Imperial College London, Grantham Institute, London, SW7, United Kingdom and Shane R Keating, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Student Paper Review Liaison:  Stephanie Waterman, University of British Columbia, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Index Terms:

4520 Eddies and mesoscale processes [OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL]
4594 Instruments and techniques [OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL]

Abstracts Submitted to this Session:

Global characteristics of coherent eddies from drifter trajectories (87143)
Rick Lumpkin, NOAA Miami, Miami, FL, United States
Variability of submesoscale dynamics in the North Atlantic from a 1/60° ocean model simulation. (91799)
Julien Le Sommer1, Jean-Marc Molines1, Alexandre Jaymond1, Bernard Barnier1, Thierry Penduff1 and Patrice Klein2, (1)LGGE - Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Géophysique de l'Environnement, CNRS - Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France, (2)Cnrs/Ifremer/LOPS, Plouzané, France
Persistance and Propagation of Eddies in High-Resolution Data-Assimilating Models (89015)
Elizabeth Douglass, John C. Stennis Space Center, Stennis Space Center, MS, United States and Hans Ngodock, Naval Research Laboratory, Stennis Space Center, MS, United States
Interannual variability of ring formations in the Gulf Stream region (90681)
Yoshi N Sasaki, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
Interannual evolutions of (sub)mesoscale dynamics in the Bay of Biscay and the English Channel  (91014)
Guillaume Charria1, Frédéric Vandermeirsch1, Sébastien Theetten1, Özge Yelekçi2, Charefeddine Assassi1 and Nicole J Audiffren3, (1)IFREMER, Plouzané, France, (2)IFREMER, DYNECO - Laboratoire de Physique Hydrodynamique et Sédimentaire, Plouzané, France, (3)Centre Informatique National de l'Enseignement Supérieur
Global Estimate of Seasonality in Scales of Oceanic Turbulence (87788)
Takaya Uchida, Columbia University of New York, Palisades, NY, United States and Ryan P Abernathey, Lamont -Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, NY, United States
Mesoscale eddies in the North Atlantic subtropical gyre: characteristics, vertical structure, and associated transport from satellite altimetry and Argo profile data. (89192)
Angel Miguel Amores Maimo, Oleg Melnichenko and Nikolai A Maximenko, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, United States