Anticyclonic rings in the Gulf of Mexico

I Interntarional Symposium in Marine Sciences (ISMS07), Simposio GLOBER - IMBER España (2007), celebrado del 28 al 31 de marzo de 2007 en Valencia.-- 2 pages, 2 figuresThe Gulf of Mexico is a semi-closed sea that displays great variability in its circulation. The dynamics of this sea has been intensively studied not only by the scientific community but also by the oil industry, because of the presence of intense rings that may affect the offshore oils structures. A numerical model, the Colorado University Princeton Ocean Model (CUPOM), was develop and has been used during the last decades (Kantha and Clayson, 1994). Here we have used this model, with a 1/12 degree resolution in 24 sigma-layers, to obtain the temporal evolution of temperature and salinity vertical sections across an anticyclonic eddy that develops within the Gulf, and to analyze the behaviour of simulated parcel trajectories within this eddy. [...]Peer reviewe

Modelling the early evolution of Loop Current ring

Special issue Models and observations of Marine Systems.-- 12 pages, 13 figuresThe Colorado University Princeton Ocean Model (CUPOM) is used here to study the early stages in the life of Millennium, a mesoscale anticyclonic ring that detached from the Loop Current on April 2001 and lasted for more than 100 days. The numerical near-surface velocity field for the Gulf of Mexico is validated with the altimetry geostrophic velocities. The first 30 days of numerical data, before Millennium interacts with other mesoscalar features, are closely examined both from Eulerian and Lagrangian perspectives. During this time Millennium had a near-constant rotation period of 6.5 days, and particles do not leave the ring. Nevertheless, the distributions of temperature, salinity, and angular velocity confirm the existence of significant (possibly numerical) radial diffusion. Polar-coordinate phase plots for temperature–salinity anomalies and tangential–radial velocities, at several depths, illustrate the presence of an evolving oscillating pattern. Radial and tangential velocities change in phase, associated with vertical displacements of the isothermal and isohaline surfaces. A simple diffusion model with an effective diffusion coefficient of 200 m2 s−1 is appropriate to grossly simulate the temporal evolution of angular velocity within MillenniumThe first author wants to thank the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia for funding her through an FPU grant (AP2003-3642). This work has been carried out as part of the CANOA project (CTM2005-00444/MAR) financed by the Spanish government through the Ministerio de Educación y CienciaPeer reviewe