Dataset Information

General characteristics of relative dispersion in the ocean.

ABSTRACT: The multi-scale and nonlinear nature of the ocean dynamics dramatically affects the spreading of matter, like pollutants, marine litter, etc., of physical and chemical seawater properties, and the biological connectivity inside and among different basins. Based on the Finite-Scale Lyapunov Exponent analysis of the largest available near-surface Lagrangian data set from the Global Drifter Program, our results show that, despite the large variety of flow features, relative dispersion can ultimately be described by a few parameters common to all ocean sub-basins, at least in terms of order of magnitude. This provides valuable information to undertake Lagrangian dispersion studies by means of models and/or of observational data. Moreover, our results show that the relative dispersion rates measured at submesoscale are significantly higher than for large-scale dynamics. Auxiliary analysis of high resolution GPS-tracked drifter hourly data as well as of the drogued/undrogued status of the buoys is provided in support of our conclusions. A possible application of our study, concerning reverse drifter motion and error growth analysis, is proposed relatively to the case of the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 aircraft.

SUBMITTER: Corrado R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5387742 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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General characteristics of relative dispersion in the ocean.

Corrado Raffaele R Lacorata Guglielmo G Palatella Luigi L Santoleri Rosalia R Zambianchi Enrico E

Scientific reports 20170411

The multi-scale and nonlinear nature of the ocean dynamics dramatically affects the spreading of matter, like pollutants, marine litter, etc., of physical and chemical seawater properties, and the biological connectivity inside and among different basins. Based on the Finite-Scale Lyapunov Exponent analysis of the largest available near-surface Lagrangian data set from the Global Drifter Program, our results show that, despite the large variety of flow features, relative dispersion can ultimatel ...[more]

PMID: 28397797

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Project description:Any type of non-buoyant material in the ocean is transported horizontally by currents during its sinking journey. This lateral transport can be far from negligible for small sinking velocities. To estimate its magnitude and direction, the material is often modelled as a set of Lagrangian particles advected by current velocities that are obtained from Ocean General Circulation Models (OGCMs). State-of-the-art OGCMs are strongly eddying, similar to the real ocean, providing results with a spatial resolution on the order of 10 km on a daily frequency. While the importance of eddies in OGCMs is well-appreciated in the physical oceanographic community, other marine research communities may not. Further, many long term climate modelling simulations (e.g. in paleoclimate) rely on lower spatial resolution models that do not capture mesoscale features. To demonstrate how much the absence of mesoscale features in low-resolution models influences the Lagrangian particle transport, we simulate the transport of sinking Lagrangian particles using low- and high-resolution global OGCMs, and assess the lateral transport differences resulting from the difference in spatial and temporal model resolution. We find major differences between the transport in the non-eddying OGCM and in the eddying OGCM. Addition of stochastic noise to the particle trajectories in the non-eddying OGCM parameterises the effect of eddies well in some cases (e.g. in the North Pacific gyre). The effect of a coarser temporal resolution (once every 5 days versus monthly) is smaller compared to a coarser spatial resolution (0.1° versus 1° horizontally). We recommend to use sinking Lagrangian particles, representing e.g. marine snow, microplankton or sinking plastic, only with velocity fields from eddying Eulerian OGCMs, requiring high-resolution models in e.g. paleoceanographic studies. To increase the accessibility of our particle trace simulations, we launch planktondrift.science.uu.nl, an online tool to reconstruct the surface origin of sedimentary particles in a specific location.

Dataset Information

General characteristics of relative dispersion in the ocean.

Publications

General characteristics of relative dispersion in the ocean.

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