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Automatic identification and tracking of meso-scale eddies in the Persian Gulf using the pattern mining approach

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Abstract

Meso-scale eddies with a diameter of less than 150 km and a time-scale of about one month are in fact rotations (distortions) which are observed in the continuous spatio-temporal fluid field as an evolving pattern over space and time. Ubiquitous eddy fields, including coherent vortices, are important in all aspects of oceanography such as biological, chemical and physical and have major effects on marine ecosystem and adjacent lands. In the present study, using pattern mining approach, the eddy identification automatic algorithm in the Persian Gulf called "Persian Gulf Eddy Scan" was developed and implemented in MATLAB. In order to prepare the input data for the aforementioned algorithm, first the ROMS numerical model with climate forcings was implemented for the Persian Gulf. The algorithm input data include average daily free surface water height, sea surface temperature and salinity with a grid resolution of 5 km. Finally, using this algorithm, 48 meso-scale eddies (including cyclonic and anti-cyclonic) with a lifespan of at least 3 weeks were identified and tracked automatically in the Persian Gulf for one year. The high compliance of the results with the former studies shows its capability in detecting meso-scale eddies.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. James Faghmous (University of Minnesota) and Dr. Mohammad Ali Fattahzadeh (Science and Research Branch of Islamic Azad University (SRBIAU)) for their skilled technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Marine Sciences, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

    B. Vafaei & M. Ezam

  2. Department of Engineering, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

    A. Saghaei

  3. Institute of Geophysics, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

    A. A. Bidokhti

Authors
  1. B. Vafaei
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  2. M. Ezam
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  3. A. Saghaei
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  4. A. A. Bidokhti
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Correspondence to M. Ezam.

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Authors confirm that there are no relevant financial or non-financial competing interests to report.

Availability of data and material

World Ocean Atlas 2009 (WOA09) https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/OC5/WOA09/; Comprehensive Ocean–Atmosphere Data Set (COADS05) https://www.croco-ocean.org/; One arc-minute global relief model of Earth's surface that integrates land topography and ocean bathymetry (ETOPO1) https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/global/etopo1sources.html.

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Editorial responsibility: Maryam Shabani.

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Vafaei, B., Ezam, M., Saghaei, A. et al. Automatic identification and tracking of meso-scale eddies in the Persian Gulf using the pattern mining approach. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 19, 6011–6022 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-021-03779-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-021-03779-0

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