Warm-Core Rings Heat Content and Transfers in the Gulf of Mexico

Thomas Meunier1, Enric Pallas Sanz1, Angel Ruiz Angulo2, Miguel Costa Tenreiro1, Jose Ochoa3,4, Julio Sheinbaum5,6, Simó Cusí4, Xavier J Carton7, Charly de Marez8 and Christian E. Buckingham9, (1)Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education at Ensenada, Physical Oceanography, Ensenada, BJ, Mexico, (2)Icelandic Meteorological Office, Reykjavik, Iceland, (3)CICESE, Ensenada, Baja Calif, Mexico, (4)Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education at Ensenada, Ensenada, BJ, Mexico, (5)CICESE, Physical Oceanography, Ensenada, BJ, Mexico, (6)Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education at Ensenada, Physical Oceanography, Ensenada, Mexico, (7)Laboratoire de Physique des Océans, Brest, France, (8)Laboratoire d'Océanographie Physique et Spatiale, Plouzané, France, (9)Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Département de Physique, Brest, France
Abstract:
In this study, we harness the 25-year satellite-altimeter record, in concert with a vast array of in-situ measurements, to estimate the heat content of 32 warm-core rings in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). The decay rate of these mesoscale eddies is studied in detail, and it is shown that they release the majority of their heat and available potential energy as they drift in the central GoM (away from topographic obstacles). The surface heat fluxes are shown to be small in comparison to the total rate of heat loss from the eddies, suggesting that heat is primarily released towards the surrounding watermasses. Integrating the total heat evolution equation over the warm-core rings yields an estimate of the effective lateral diffusivity coefficient.
Processes affecting the observed erosion of warm-core rings are discussed in the light of a submesoscale-resolving primitive equations model, as well as recent glider observations.
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