Lagrangian transport through an ocean front in the North-Western Mediterranean Sea

• DOI: 10.1175/2007JPO3677.1
• ArXiv number: physics/0608105

We analyze with the tools of lobe dynamics the velocity field from
a numerical simulation of the surface circulation in the
Northwestern Mediterranean Sea. We identify relevant hyperbolic
trajectories and their manifolds, and show that the transport
mechanism known as the 'turnstile', previously identified in
abstract dynamical systems and simplified model flows, is also at
work in this complex and rather realistic ocean flow. In addition
nonlinear dynamics techniques are shown to be powerful enough to
identify the key geometric structures in this part of the
Mediterranean. In particular the North Balearic Front, the
westernmost part of the transition zone between saltier and
fresher waters in the Western Mediterranean is interpreted in
terms of the presence of a semipermanent 'Lagrangian barrier'
across which little transport occurs. Our construction also
reveals the routes along which this transport happens. Topological
changes in that picture, associated with the crossing by eddies
and that may be interpreted as the breakdown of the front, are
also observed during the simulation.

• Artículo completo

Additional files

• MHSWF_JPO_08.pdf

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