FN Archimer Export Format
PT J
TI Generation of submesoscale frontal eddies in the Agulhas Current
BT 
AF Tedesco, Pauline
   Gula, Jonathan
   Ménesguen, Claire
   Penven, Pierrick
   Krug, M.
AS 1:1;2:5;3:1;4:5;5:2,3,4;
FF 1:PDG-ODE-LOPS-OH;2:;3:PDG-ODE-LOPS-OH;4:;5:;
C1 Univ. Brest, CNRS, IRD, Ifremer, Laboratoire d'Océanographie Physique et Spatiale (LOPS), IUEM Brest ,France
   Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Natural Resources and the Environment Cape Town ,South Africa
   Department of OceanographyMa‐re Institute, University of Cape Town, South Africa
   Nansen‐Tutu Centre for Marine Environmental Research, Department of OceanographyUniversity of Cape Town ,South Africa
   Univ. Brest, CNRS, IRD, Ifremer, Laboratoire d'Océanographie Physique et Spatiale (LOPS), IUEM Brest ,France
C2 IFREMER, FRANCE
   CSIR (SOUTH AFRICA), SOUTH AFRICA
   UNIV CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA
   UNIV CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA
   UBO, FRANCE
SI BREST
SE PDG-ODE-LOPS-OH
UM LOPS
IN WOS Ifremer UMR
   WOS Cotutelle UMR
   copubli-france
   copubli-univ-france
   copubli-int-hors-europe
   copubli-sud
IF 3.559
TC 27
UR https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00514/62520/66827.pdf
LA English
DT Article
DE ;Submesoscale;Numerical Modelling;Barotropic Instability;Agulhas Current;Frontal Eddies
AB This study addresses the dynamics of the Agulhas inshore front in the submesoscale range upstream of 26°E. Submesoscale frontal eddies are observed in the vicinity of Port Elizabeth (26°E) from satellite images and in observations collected from under‐water gliders. Using a submesoscale‐resolving numerical model (dx ~ 0.75 km) we are able to simulate similar submesoscale eddies. Barotropic instability is confirmed as the generation mechanism by a 1D linear stability analysis and an eddy kinetic energy budget. Kinetic energy is transferred from the mean flow to the eddies through the mean horizontal shear, which is a signature of barotropic instability. When the Agulhas Current is in a non‐meandering state, submesoscale eddy generation is a recurrent process which locally drives the front's variability. Along the front, the spatial variability of barotropic instability is shaped by the background strain. A large strain aligned with the frontal axis intensifies the frontal shear upstream of 28°E while a weakening of the strain allows for barotropic instability to be triggered downstream. Although an intermittent process, the barotropic instability shows a dominant period of variability comparable with the variability of the Agulhas Current and Undercurrent. 
PY 2019
PD NOV
SO Journal Of Geophysical Research-oceans
SN 2169-9275
PU American Geophysical Union (AGU)
VL 124
IS 11
UT 000495812200001
BP 7606
EP 7625
DI 10.1029/2019JC015229
ID 62520
ER

EF