Kinetic Theory Formulation and Analysis of Lagrangian Oceanic Particle Trajectories

Lagrangian particle orbit simulations usually generate swarms of propagating eddies and waves that are difficult to be understood by spectral methods. These particle-orbit simulations, if called here as a microscopic view of ocean circulation, look similar to the standard problem of kinetic theory studied in the statistical physics of non-uniform gases and plasmas. The kinetic theory approximates the multi-particle interacting physics by the dynamics of probability densities in phase-space. This approach is based on a Vlasov-type approximation for a parcel-distribution function. It is described here for the first time for oceanic problems and applied to the Red Sea Overflow Water in the Indian Ocean.