Variability of surface gravity wave field over a realistic cyclonic eddy
Published in Ocean Science Journal, 2022
Overview
In the middle of my Ph.D I was curious about how waves respond to the most simple current feature that we can meet in the ocean; an eddy. I run many wave simulations to highlight how the wave field respond to the current field according to the properties of the incident waves and the structure of the eddy. The work has been performed in collaboration with Dr. de Marez, who shared the eddy structures based on simulations he made earlier in the year here.
Figure: ray tracing through an isolated eddy field. The ray tracing highlight the trajectory of a monochromatic wave field through current gradients. The top row shows the ray curvature above a gaussian eddy from short to long waves (left-to-right panels). The second row shows the ray curvature above a more realistic eddy that we can actually meet in the ocean. This eddy structure can be observe from space here
Recommended citation: Marechal G, de Marez C. Variability of surface gravity wave field over a realistic cyclonic eddy. Ocean Science. 2022 Sep 1;18(5):1275-92.
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