Speaker

Georgi Sutyrin, Emeritus Marine Research Scientist, GSO

The Rossby waves and long-lived vortices: enemies or friends?

Abstract

Mesoscale variability is known to dominate the oceanic kinetic energy (KE) playing a major role in the general circulation and climate change. External forcing creates basin-scale oceanic gyres with sloping isopycnals, providing a major energy source for emergent Rossby waves and coherent vortices. A proper understanding of the interaction between the Rossby waves, vortices and mean flows remains one of the most fundamental problems in geophysical fluid dynamics and a theory of climate. We consider various configurations of monopolar and dipolar vortices generating Rossby waves to analyze whether their feedback is destructive or supportive to the vortex longevity.