Abstract
With the development of satellite altimetry technology, the resolution of sea-level anomaly (SLA) datasets is constantly improving. Current spatial resolution levels can reach a grid size of (1/4)° × (1/4)°, with daily measurements that span from 1993 to 2018, allowing for the precise identification and tracking of individual eddies. In the current study, in addition to the internal circulation and migration of eddies, a new aspect in eddy kinematics is revealed and investigated for the first time: shape-based overall eddy rotation (SOER), based on the intrinsic elliptical shape of eddies identified from a high-resolution SLA dataset. We found that eddies can maintain an elliptical shape and a slow and stable SOER during their migration process. The SOER speed was observed to be negatively correlated to eddy lifetime, and exhibited a dependence on latitude, decreasing from low- and high- to mid-latitudes. The SOER direction tended to be consistent with the direction of internal circulation, particularly for long-lived eddies. In addition, we identified a negative relationship between internal circulation speed and SOER speed while the migration speed was positively related to SOER speed. These findings further expand and improve eddy kinematics, which is of great significance for the future study of eddy dynamics.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Chelton D B, Gaube P, Schlax M G, et al. 2011a. The influence of nonlinear mesoscale eddies on near-surface oceanic chlorophyll. Science, 334(6054): 328–332, doi: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1208897
Chelton D B, Schlax M G, Samelson R M. 2011b. Global observations of nonlinear mesoscale eddies. Progress in Oceanography, 91(2): 167–216, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2011.01.002
Chelton D B, Schlax M G, Samelson R M, et al. 2007. Global observations of large oceanic eddies. Geophysical Research Letters, 34(15): L15606
Chen Ge, Han Guiyan. 2019. Contrasting short-lived with long-lived mesoscale eddies in the global ocean. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 124(5): 3149–3167, doi: https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JC014983
Chen Ge, Han Guiyan, Yang Xueqing. 2019. On the intrinsic shape of oceanic eddies derived from satellite altimetry. Remote Sensing of Environment, 228: 75–89, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2019.04.011
Dong Changming, McWilliams J C, Liu Yu, et al. 2014. Global heat and salt transports by eddy movement. Nature Communications, 5(1): 3294, doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms4294
Dufau C, Orsztynowicz M, Dibarboure G, et al. 2016. Mesoscale resolution capability of altimetry: present and future. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 121(7): 4910–4927, doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JC010904
Early J J, Samelson R M, Chelton D B. 2011. The evolution and propagation of quasigeostrophic ocean eddies. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 41(8): 1535–1555, doi: https://doi.org/10.1175/2011JPO4601.1
Faghmous J H, Frenger I, Yao Yuanshun, et al. 2015. A daily global mesoscale ocean eddy dataset from satellite altimetry. Scientific Data, 2(1): 150028, doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2015.28
Fernandes A M. 2009. Study on the automatic recognition of oceanic eddies in satellite images by ellipse center detection—the Iberian coast case. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 47(8): 2478–2491, doi: https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2009.2014155
Frenger I, Gruber N, Knutti R, et al. 2013. Imprint of Southern Ocean eddies on winds, clouds and rainfall. Nature Geoscience, 6(8): 608–612, doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1863
Fu L L, Chelton D B, Le Traon P Y, et al. 2010. Eddy dynamics from satellite altimetry. Oceanography, 23(4): 14–25, doi: https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2010.02
Gruber N, Lachkar Z, Frenzel H, et al. 2011. Eddy-induced reduction of biological production in eastern boundary upwelling systems. Nature Geoscience, 4(11): 787–792, doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1273
Jayne S R, Marotzke J. 2002. The oceanic eddy heat transport. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 32(12): 3328–3345, doi: https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0485(2002)032<3328:TOEHT>2.0.CO;2
Le Vu B, Stegner A, Arsouze T. 2018. Angular Momentum Eddy Detection and tracking Algorithm (AMEDA) and its application to coastal eddy formation. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 35(4): 739–762, doi: https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-17-0010.1
Liu Yingjie, Chen Ge, Sun Miao, et al. 2016. A parallel SLA-based algorithm for global mesoscale eddy identification. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 33(12): 2743–2754, doi: https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-16-0033.1
Mason E, Pascual A, McWilliams J C. 2014. A new sea surface height-based code for oceanic mesoscale eddy tracking. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 31(5): 1181–1188, doi: https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-14-00019.1
Sun Miao, Tian Fenglin, Liu Yingjie, et al. 2017. An improved automatic algorithm for global eddy tracking using satellite altimeter data. Remote Sensing, 9(3): 206, doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/rs9030206
Tamarin T, Maddison J R, Heifetz E, et al. 2016. A geometric interpretation of eddy Reynolds stresses in barotropic ocean jets. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 46(8): 2285–2307, doi: https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-15-0139.1
Waterman S, Lilly J M. 2015. Geometric decomposition of eddy feedbacks in barotropic systems. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 45(4): 1009–1024, doi: https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-14-0177.1
Yi Jiawei, Liu Zhang, Du Yunyan, et al. 2014. A Gaussian-surface-based approach to identifying oceanic multi-eddy structures from satellite altimeter datasets. In: Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Geoinformatics. Kaohsiung, China: IEEE, 1–5
Zhang Zhengguang, Qiu Bo, Klein P, et al. 2019. The influence of geostrophic strain on oceanic ageostrophic motion and surface chlorophyll. Nature Communications, 10(1): 2838, doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-10883-w
Zhang Zhengguang, Wang Wei, Qiu Bo. 2014. Oceanic mass transport by mesoscale eddies. Science, 345(6194): 322–324, doi: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1252418
Acknowledgements
The altimeter merged SLA data used in this study are distributed by Archiving, Validation, and Interpretation of Satellite Oceanographic (AVISO; https://www.aviso.altimetry.fr/en/home.html).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Foundation item: The National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract No. 42030406; the Wenhai Program of the S&T Fund of Shandong Province for the Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (Qingdao) under contract No. 2021WHZZB1501; the Marine S&T Fund of Shandong Province for the Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (Qingdao) under contract No. 2022QNLM050301-1
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yang, X., Han, G., Ma, C. et al. Satellite observed shape-based overall rotation—A new aspect in eddy kinematics. Acta Oceanol. Sin. 41, 183–194 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-021-1970-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-021-1970-4