A Description of Local and Nonlocal Eddy-Mean Flow Interaction in a Global Eddy-Permitting State Estimate

• Main Authors: Chen, Ru (Contributor), Flierl, Glenn Richard (Contributor), Wunsch, Carl (Contributor)
• Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (Contributor)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Meteorological Society, 2015-04-02T17:55:52Z.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

 The assumption that local baroclinic instability dominates eddy-mean flow interactions is tested on a global scale using a dynamically consistent eddy-permitting state estimate. Interactions are divided into local and nonlocal. If all the energy released from the mean flow through eddy-mean flow interaction is used to support eddy growth in the same region, or if all the energy released from eddies through eddy-mean flow interaction is used to feed back to the mean flow in the same region, eddy-mean flow interaction is local; otherwise, it is nonlocal. Different regions have different characters: in the subtropical region studied in detail, interactions are dominantly local. In the Southern Ocean and Kuroshio and Gulf Stream Extension regions, they are mainly nonlocal. Geographical variability of dominant eddy-eddy and eddy-mean flow processes is a dominant factor in understanding ocean energetics.