Eddies and Tropical Instability Waves in the eastern tropical Pacific: A review

Mesoscale eddies and tropical instability waves in the eastern tropical Pacific, first revealed by satellite infrared imagery, play an important role in the dynamics and biology of the region, and in the transfer of mass, energy, heat, and biological constituents from the shelf to the deep ocean and across the equatorial currents.From boreal late autumn to early spring, four to 18 cyclonic or anticyclonic eddies are formed off the coastal region between southern Mexico and Panama. The anticyclonic gyres, which tend to be larger and last longer than the cyclonic ones, are the best studied: they typically are 180–500 km in diameter, depress the pycnocline from 60 to 145 m at the eddy center, have swirl speeds in excess of 1 m s⁻¹, migrate west at velocities ranging from 11 to 19 cm s⁻¹ (with a slight southward component), and maintain a height signature of up to 30 cm. The primary generating agents for these eddies are the strong, intermittent wind jets that blow across the isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico, the lake district in Nicaragua and Costa Rica, and the Panama canal. Other proposed eddy-generating mechanisms are the conservation of vorticity as the North Equatorial Counter Current (NECC) turns north on reaching America, and the instability of coastally trapped waves/currents.Tropical Instability Waves (TIWs) are perturbations in the SST fronts on either side of the equatorial cold tongue. They produce SST variations on the order of 1–2 °C, have periods of 20–40 days, wavelengths of 1000–2000 km, phase speeds of around 0.5 m s⁻¹ and propagate westward both north and south of the Equator. The Tropical Instability Vortices (TIVs) are a train of westward-propagating anticyclonic eddies associated with the TIWs. They exhibit eddy currents exceeding 1.3 m s⁻¹, a westward phase propagation speed between 30 and 40 km d⁻¹, a signature above the pycnocline, and eastward energy propagation. Like the TIWs, they result from the latitudinal barotropically unstable shear between the South Equatorial Current (SEC) and the NECC with a potential secondary source of energy from baroclinic instability of the vertical shear with the Equatorial Undercurrent (EUC).This review of mesoscale processes is part of a comprehensive review of the oceanography of the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.     

Intensification of decadal and multi-decadal sea level variability in the western tropical Pacific during recent decades

Previous studies have linked the rapid sea level rise (SLR) in the western tropical Pacific (WTP) since the early 1990s to the Pacific decadal climate modes, notably the Pacific Decadal Oscillation in the north Pacific or Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO) considering its basin wide signature. Here, the authors investigate the changing patterns of decadal (10–20 years) and multidecadal (>20 years) sea level variability (global mean SLR removed) in the Pacific associated with the IPO, by analyzing satellite and in situ observations, together with reconstructed and reanalysis products, and performing ocean and atmosphere model experiments. Robust intensification is detected for both decadal and multidecadal sea level variability in the WTP since the early 1990s. The IPO intensity, however, did not increase and thus cannot explain the faster SLR. The observed, accelerated WTP SLR results from the combined effects of Indian Ocean and WTP warming and central-eastern tropical Pacific cooling associated with the IPO cold transition. The warm Indian Ocean acts in concert with the warm WTP and cold central-eastern tropical Pacific to drive intensified easterlies and negative Ekman pumping velocity in western-central tropical Pacific, thereby enhancing the western tropical Pacific SLR. On decadal timescales, the intensified sea level variability since the late 1980s or early 1990s results from the “out of phase” relationship of sea surface temperature anomalies between the Indian and central-eastern tropical Pacific since 1985, which produces “in phase” effects on the WTP sea level variability.     

Operational Altimeter Data Processing for Mesoscale Monitoring

Since 1996, global, near-real-time maps of mesoscale anomalies derived from tandem sampling provided by altimeters aboard the TOPEX/Poseidon and ERS-2 satellites have been posted on web pages hosted at the Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research. The original, near-real-time processing system was based on a quick-look analysis that referenced the data to a high-resolution gridded mean sea surface available at the time. Recently, state-of-the-art mean sea surfaces have been derived that are based on a more complete record of altimeter observations. An updated mesoscale monitoring system based on a new mean surface is described and shown to provide improved mesoscale monitoring to the successful system implemented in 1996.     

Operational Altimeter Data Processing for Mesoscale Monitoring

Since 1996, global, near-real-time maps of mesoscale anomalies derived from tandem sampling provided by altimeters aboard the TOPEX/Poseidon and ERS-2 satellites have been posted on web pages hosted at the Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research. The original, near-real-time processing system was based on a quick-look analysis that referenced the data to a high-resolution gridded mean sea surface available at the time. Recently, state-of-the-art mean sea surfaces have been derived that are based on a more complete record of altimeter observations. An updated mesoscale monitoring system based on a new mean surface is described and shown to provide improved mesoscale monitoring to the successful system implemented in 1996.     

Comparison of buoy and altimeter-derived shelf currents using an optimal operator

We compare in situ current measurements with remotely sensed surface currents from satellite altimetry calculated using a novel operator to estimate geostrophic currents with minimum noise. Buoys from the Texas Automated Buoy System measured currents in the shallow waters of the Louisiana/Texas shelf. The optimally derived currents from TOPEX/Poseidon and Jason-1 are shown to be highly correlated even in this shallow water environment.     

The Two-Component Virial Theorem and the Physical Properties of Stellar Systems

Using eigenmode expansion of the Mark III and SFI surveys of cosmological radial velocities, a goodness-of-fit analysis is applied on a mode-by-mode basis. This differential analysis complements the Bayesian maximum likelihood analysis that finds the most probable model given the data. Analyzing the surveys with their corresponding most likely models from the CMB-like family of models, as well as with the currently popular LambdaCDM model, reveals a systematic inconsistency of the data with these "best" models. There is a systematic trend of the cumulative chi(2) to increase with the mode number (where the modes are sorted by decreasing order of the eigenvalues). This corresponds to a decrease of the chi(2) with the variance associated with a mode and hence with its effective scale. It follows that the differential analysis finds that on small (large) scales the global analysis of all the modes "puts" less (more) power than actually required by the data. This observed trend might indicate one of the following: (1) the theoretical model (i.e., power spectrum) or the error model (or both) have an excess of power on large scales, (2) velocity bias, or (3) the velocity data suffers from systematic errors that have not yet been corrected.     

Vertical impulse measurements of mines buried in saturated sand

The ultimate aim of our overall task, of which the effort described in this paper is a part, is to be able to model the impulsive output of buried charges and the response of targets of interest. It is not practical or cost-effective to determine the response of all targets of interest to buried charges of all sizes by testing them. In order to have confidence in our models, however, they must be validated by a modest number of tests. A critical element in modelling the response of a target is the ability to model the loading function. The load a buried charge applies to a target above it when the charge detonates can be characterized in terms of the vertical impulse. The vertical impulse is a function of the size of the charge, its depth of burial, and the properties of the soil in which it is buried. The primary objective of the effort described in this paper is to determine the load a known charge places on a non-responding target so the data can be used to validate our models.

For model validation, a large number of detonator-scale experiments have been conducted by the University of Maryland (Fourney et al. [1]). It was also necessary to conduct a modest number of experiments at a larger scale, nine in total, to ensure that the results of the detonator-scale tests can be satisfactorily scaled up. Of the nine large-scale experiments conducted, seven were conducted with 5 or 10 lb cast TNT charges. All experiments were conducted in sand that was as nearly fully water-saturated as possible. The objective of the experiments was to determine the vertical impulse applied to a non-deforming target plate above the charge.

The large-scale experiments were conducted using the Vertical Impulse Measurement Fixture (VIMF) at the Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen, MD. The VIMF is a unique facility that has been designed specifically to measure accurately the vertical impulse from buried charges weighing up to 8 kg.

This paper describes the VIMF and its instrumentation, test methods and test results. The results obtained demonstrate that in some cases, when the soil is saturated sand, explosive 'bubble' effects similar to those encountered in shallow water are encountered.     

Local instability in a periodically forced sliced cylinder

This paper investigates the dynamics of mesoscale eddy generation by instability of time-varying flows. Laboratory experiments on oscillatory motion over topography in a rapidly rotating cylinder have shown that isolated mesoscale eddies, which form in the sidewall boundary layer during certain phases of the forcing cycle, are associated with the onset of chaotic behavior in this system. This paper explores the origin of these eddies by performing computational simulations of the flow, and then interpreting the results of the calculations using spatially localized and quasi-static linear stability theory. For most of the experimental parameter space the quasi-geostrophic simulations are in excellent agreement with the laboratory observations. The eddies arise as a barotropic shear flow instability in regions of space and at times where the inflection points of the instantaneous large-scale flow are farthest from the sidewall, and where Fjortoft's theorem is strongly satisfied. At finite amplitude, advection of the local wavetrains up the bottom slope strengthens the anticyclonic eddies. These then merge, leading in most circumstances to a single strong anticyclonic vortex that can leave the sidewall and penetrate the interior. When parameters are such that the eddy persists all the way around the basin and back to the local instability region, the flow is observed to become chaotic.     

Accuracy Assessment of Jason-1 and TOPEX/POSEIDON Along-Track Sea Surface Slope

Sea surface slope computed from along-track Jason-1 and TOPEX/POSEIDON (T/P) altimeter data at ocean mesoscale wavelengths are compared to determine the equivalent 1 Hz instrument height noise of the Poseidon-2 and TOPEX altimeters. This geophysical evaluation shows that the Ku-band 1-Hz range noise for both instruments is better than 1.7 cm at 2 m significant wave heights (H_1/3), exceeding error budget requirements for both missions. Furthermore, we show that the quality of these instruments allows optimal filtering of the 1-Hz along-track sea surface height data for sea surface slopes that can be used to calculate cross track geostrophic velocity anomalies at the baroclinic Rossby radius of deformation to better than 5 cm/sec precision along 87.5% of the satellite ground track between 2 and 60 degrees absolute latitude over the deep abyssal ocean (depths greater than 1000 m). This level of precision will facilitate scientific studies of surface geostrophic velocity variability using data from the Jason-1 and T/P Tandem Mission.