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Eddy resolving modelling of the Gulf of Lions and Catalan Sea

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Abstract

The generation process of strong long-lived eddies flowing southwestwards along the Catalan slope was revealed through numerical modelling and in situ observations. Careful analyses of a particular event in autumn 2007 demonstrated a link between a “LATEX” eddy, which remained in the southwestern corner of the Gulf of Lions and a “CATALAN” eddy, which moved along the Catalan Shelf, since the death of the former gave birth to the latter. The origin of such eddies was found to be an accumulation of potential energy in the southwestern corner of the Gulf of Lions: under the influence of the negative wind stress curl associated with the Tramontane, a warm and less dense water body can be isolated and fed by a coastal current carrying warm water from the Catalan Sea. In summer, this structure can grow and intensify to generate a strong anticyclonic eddy. After a long period of Tramontane, a burst of southeasterlies and northerlies appeared to detach the “LATEX” eddy, which flowed out of the Gulf of Lions, migrating along the Catalan continental slope and continued into the Balearic Sea as the “CATALAN” eddy.

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Acknowledgements

We thank ACRI_ST (a private company) for providing the MM5 model outputs and CLS-Aviso (http://www.aviso.oceanobs.com) for providing along-track altimetry.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IFREMER, DYNECO/PHYSED, BP 70, 29280, Plouzané, France

    Pierre Garreau & Valérie Garnier

  2. LSEET, Université du Sud Toulon-Var, BP 20132, 83957, La Garde, France

    Amandine Schaeffer

  3. IFREMER, LER PAC, BP 330, 83500, La Seyne sur Mer, France

    Amandine Schaeffer

Authors
  1. Pierre Garreau
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  2. Valérie Garnier
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  3. Amandine Schaeffer
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Correspondence to Pierre Garreau.

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Responsible Editor: Phil Peter Dyke

This article is part of the Topical Collection on Joint Numerical Sea Modelling Group Workshop 2010

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Garreau, P., Garnier, V. & Schaeffer, A. Eddy resolving modelling of the Gulf of Lions and Catalan Sea. Ocean Dynamics 61, 991–1003 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10236-011-0399-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10236-011-0399-2

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