Eddies

- An Introduction: Impact on Marine Food Chains -

Eddies: definition and examples

Effects on biology

Anne Sell, University of Hamburg, December 2002

Eddies

NASA, Earth Observatory,

SeaWiFS data, June 13, 2002.

Red, green, and turquoise patches to the west of British Columbia/Alaska indicate
high concentrations of chlorophyll. Eddies in the Pacific Ocean formed by
outflow currents from rivers along the coast that are rich in nutrients from the
springtime snowmelt running off the mountains. Stimulate the phytoplankton
blooms within the eddies.

Eddies in the Gulf of Alaska.

NASA, Earth Observatory,

SeaWiFS data.

Eddies
Circular currents that spin off a strong currents.
Can last for weeks to months.
One rotation typically 10-30 days.
Size (horizontally) 10-100 km (often called meso-scale).
Energy level highest if close to narrow boundary flows like Gulf Stream
with current speeds up to 1 m s-1.

Gyres
Circular currents that are typically confined by bathymetric features.
Wide range of spatial scales:
Meso-scale: Georges Bank gyre.
Large-scale: North Atlantic subtropical gyre.

Georges Bank Gyre

Global Wind-Driven Circulation

Gyres rotating
clockwise in
the northern
hemisphere,
counter-clockwise in the
southern
hemisphere.

Gulf Stream Eddies

The Gulf Stream separates two distinct water masses:
Near shore (NW): Slope Water, < 100C, nutrient-rich.
Off shore (SE): Sargasso Sea Water, 150C to 250C, nutrientdepleted.
Gulf Stream: Western boundary current, fast, deep, relatively
narrow. High-energy flow may produce eddies that are still
attached to the current itself (frontal eddies*), or that detach
from the stream (warm-core and cold-core rings).
Depending on which side of the Gulf Stream the water at the
center of the eddy is entrained on, it may be a cold-core ring or
a warm-core ring.
* Frontal eddies: see previous lecture (J. Verduin)

Warm-core and
Cold-core Rings

Gulf stream meanders and rings. (a) Satellite image of infra-red

radiation. (b) Meanders: warm-core and cold-core rings.

Warm-core and cold-core rings

Cyclonic cold-core ring and anti-cyclonic

warm-core ring

(Insert: Review current direction)

Coriolis effect
Objects moving unattached to the earth in a straight path while
the earth rotates underneath them =>
Apparent deflection to the right in the northern hemisphere (to
left in southern hemisphere)
Effect is greatest at the poles
No deflection for objects that move W-E or E-W over equator

Cyclonic and Anti-cyclonic Eddies

Doming of thermocline in cyclonic rings:

Northern hemisphere:
Primary production increased within cyclonic rings
(cold-core, anti-clockwise rotation).

Upwelling of
nutrient-rich
water
Cyclonic rotation in the
northern hemisphere leads
to spreading of water from
the center

Coriolis force deflects water movement to the right,

i.e. away from the center in a cyclonic ring. The
spreading surface water is replaced by deep water.
depth of the thermocline decreases
nutrient-rich waters closer to (illuminated)
surface.
increased primary production.
Anti-cyclonic rings: vice versa.

Cold core ring: thermocline is pushed up.

Warm core ring: thermocline pushed down.

Eddies

Definitions and examples

Effects on biology

Anne Sell, University of Hamburg, December 2002

Mann & Lazier (1996)

Eddies in the Sargasso Sea

CYCLONE:
Cold core ring: main and
seasonal thermoclines is
pushed up. Sea surface
depressed due to higher
density of the water in
the eddy.

ANTICYCLONE:
Warm core ring: both
thermoclines pushed
down. Elevate sea
surface.

MODE-WATER EDDY:
Elevate sea surface as well,
but have lense-shaped
thermoclines. They are also
anti-cyclonic, but have cold
water at the surface.

Isopycnal displacement in eddies. 1 = seasonal thermocline, 2 = main thermocline.

McGillicuddy et al. (1999)

McGillicuddy et al. (1998)

Meso-scale eddies are the dominant mode of nutrient

transport in the Sargasso Sea.
Eddy-induced upwelling causes intermittent fluxes of
nitrate into the euphotic zone.
At any one time, cold-core rings represent about 10% of
the surface area of the Sargasso Sea.

McGillicuddy, unpublished data

McGillicuddy, unpublished data

Meso-scale biogeochemical survey

near BATS site, June 1996.
Temperature (C, at 120m)

Nitrite and nitrate (mmol m-3, at 120m)

Chlorophyll a (mg m-3, at 60m)

McGillicuddy et al. (1998)

Measurements from a mooring near

Bermuda:
Temperature records at various depths
(6-d moving average)

Nitrate [M] at 80m

Chlorophyll fluorescence at 71m
Attenuation coefficient at 71m

McGillicuddy et al. (1999)

Around the Hawaiian Islands, eddies are caused when northeasterly trade
winds interact with the topography of the islands.

Dr. Pierre Flament (University of Hawaii)

Modulation of sea surface temperature by variations of wind speed in the lee of the islands:
Winds in the channels => cooler surface temperatures (light blue)
In lee => warmer surface temperatures (pink).
These variations of wind speed induce divergent and convergent surface
currents (horizontal blue arrows), which in turn lift or depress the thermocline
(vertical blue arrows) and lead to the formation of clockwise (anti-cyclonic) and
counter-clockwise (cyclonic) eddies (gray curved arrows).

The eddy Loretta persisted in the channel between the islands of

Hawaii and Maui from May 1999 until January 2000.

Satellite remote sensing of the long-lived eddy Loretta. Sea-surface temperature (left),
and SeaWiFS chlorophyll (right) in Aug/Sep 1999.

Eddies
Impact on higher trophic levels:

Eddies and whales in the Gulf of Mexico

cold-core ring
warm-core ring

Contour map of SSH (sea surface height) for the Gulf of Mexico.
R.W. Davis et al. (2002)

Eddies and whales in the Gulf of Mexico

Whale sightings (+). Bold solid
(positive) and bold dashed
(negative) lines are sea surface
height anomalies (cm). The color
contours are nighttime estimated
mean zooplankton biomass (EMB)
in the depth interval 10-50 m.

R.W. Davis et al. (2002)

Sources for this lecture:

Articles:
Davis, R.W. et al. (2002). Cetacean habitat in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Deep Sea Res.
I 49: 121-142.
McGillicuddy, D.J. jr. et al. (1998). Influence of mesoscale eddies on new production in
the Sargasso Sea. Nature 394: 263-266.
McGillicuddy, D.J. jr. et al. (1999). Mesoscale variations of biogeochemical properties in
the Sargasso Sea. J. Geophysical Res. 104: 13381-13394.
Text Books:
Mann, K.H. & Lazier, J.R.N. (1996). Dynamics of Marine Ecosystems BiologicalPhysical Interactions in the Oceans. 2nd ed. Blackwell Science, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Pinet, P.R. (2000). Invitation to Oceanography. Jones & Barlett Publishers. 2nd ed.
Internet Resources:
Satellite images at

http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/
http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/gsfc/earth/eddy/eddy.htm