Characterizing frontal eddies along the East Australian Current from HF radar observations
Résumé
The East Australian Current (EAC) dominates the ocean circulation along south‐eastern Australia, however, little is known about the submesoscale frontal instabilities associated with this western boundary current. One year of surface current measurements from HF radars, in conjunction with mooring and satellite observations, highlight the occurrence and propagation of meanders and frontal eddies along the inshore edge of the EAC. Eddies were systematically identified using the geometry of the high spatial resolution (∼1.5 km) surface currents, and tracked every hour. Cyclonic eddies were observed irregularly, on average every 7 days, with inshore radius ∼10 km. Among various forms of structures, frontal eddies associated with EAC meanders were characterized by poleward advection speeds of ∼0.3–0.4 m/s, migrating as far as 500 km south, based on satellite imagery. Flow field kinematics show that cyclonic eddies have high Rossby numbers (0.6–1.9) and enhance particle dispersion. Patches of intensified surface divergence at the leading edge of the structures are expected to generate vertical uplift. This is confirmed by subsurface measurements showing temperature uplift of up to 55 m over 24 h and rough estimates of vertical velocities of 10s of meters per day. While frontal eddies propagate through the radar domain independently of local wind stress, upfront wind can influence their stalling and growth, and can also generate large cold core eddies through intense shear. Such coherent structures are a major mechanism for the transport and entrainment of nutrient rich coastal or deep waters, influencing physical and biological dynamics, and connectivity over large distances.
Domaines
Océanographie
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