Carriers of Sargassum and mechanism for coastal inundation in the Caribbean Sea

Details

• Journal Title:
  Physics of Fluids
• Personal Author:
  Andrade-Canto, F. ; Beron-Vera, F. J. ; Goni, G. J. ; Karrasch, D. ; Olascoaga, M. J. ; Triñanes, J.
• NOAA Program & Office:
  OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research) ; AOML (Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory) ; CIMAS (Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies)
• Description:
  We identify effective carriers of Sargassum in the Caribbean Sea and describe a mechanism for coastal choking. Revealed from satellite altimetry, the carriers of Sargassum are mesoscale eddies (vortices of 50-km radius or larger) with coherent material (i.e., fluid) boundaries. These are observer-independent—unlike eddy boundaries identified with instantaneously closed streamlines of the altimetric sea-surface height field—and furthermore harbor finite-time attractors for networks of elastically connected finite-size buoyant or “inertial” particles dragged by ocean currents and winds, a mathematical abstraction of Sargassum rafts. The mechanism of coastal inundation, identified using a minimal model of surface-intensified Caribbean Sea eddies, is thermal instability in the presence of bottom topography.
• Keywords:
  Sargassum Coastal Inundation Mesoscale Eddies Satellite Altimetry
• Source:
  Physics of Fluids 34, 016602
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0079055
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Caribbean Sea
• Rights Information:
  Other
• Compliance:
  Submitted
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:b4d96a0efcde7fd3eb86823435eb862f08158c2bc8def2f0e6138d9ef703a79c
• Download URL:
  https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/34235/noaa_34235_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.93 MB ]