Statistical Analysis of the Surface Circulation in the California Current System Using Satellite-Tracked Drifters

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A kinematic description of the surface circulation in the southern California current System is presented using the statistics of the 7–11 month long trajectories of 29 satellite-tracked mixed layer drifters. The drifters were released north of 30°N and traveled southward at an average speed of 3–4 cm s−1 along Baja California through an inhomogeneous field of mesoscale eddies of 15 cm s−1 rms variability. Lagrangian and Eulerian statistics of the variations about this mean southward drift are computed. The drifter ensemble mean Lagrangian decorrelation time scale is 4–5 days and the Lagrangian decorrelation space scale is 40–50 km. The computation of dispersion of single particles about the mean drift shows that the theory of diffusion by homogeneous random motion (Taylor's theory) describes these dispersive motions well. Ensemble mean diffusivities of about 4 × 107 cm2 s−1 are found. On a 200 × 200 km2 spatial average, single-partial diffusivities are found to be proportional to the kinetic ene... Abstract A kinematic description of the surface circulation in the southern California current System is presented using the statistics of the 7–11 month long trajectories of 29 satellite-tracked mixed layer drifters. The drifters were released north of 30°N and traveled southward at an average speed of 3–4 cm s−1 along Baja California through an inhomogeneous field of mesoscale eddies of 15 cm s−1 rms variability. Lagrangian and Eulerian statistics of the variations about this mean southward drift are computed. The drifter ensemble mean Lagrangian decorrelation time scale is 4–5 days and the Lagrangian decorrelation space scale is 40–50 km. The computation of dispersion of single particles about the mean drift shows that the theory of diffusion by homogeneous random motion (Taylor's theory) describes these dispersive motions well. Ensemble mean diffusivities of about 4 × 107 cm2 s−1 are found. On a 200 × 200 km2 spatial average, single-partial diffusivities are found to be proportional to the kinetic ene...

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: