Submesoscale dispersion in the vicinity of the Deepwater Horizon spill

Significance We report here on results obtained from the largest upper-ocean dispersion field program conducted to date. The observations provided, for the first time to our knowledge, an accurate and nearly simultaneous description of the ocean surface velocity field on spatial scales ranging from...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2014-09, Vol.111 (35), p.12693-12698
Main Authors: Poje, Andrew C., Özgökmen, Tamay M., Lipphardt, Bruce L., Haus, Brian K., Ryan, Edward H., Haza, Angelique C., Jacobs, Gregg A., Reniers, A. J. H. M., Olascoaga, Maria Josefina, Novelli, Guillaume, Griffa, Annalisa, Beron-Vera, Francisco J., Chen, Shuyi S., Coelho, Emanuel, Hogan, Patrick J., Kirwan, Albert D., Huntley, Helga S., Mariano, Arthur J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Canyons
Contamination
Diffusion
Diffusion coefficient
Dispersion
Ecosystem
Ecosystem studies
Environmental Monitoring - methods
Gulf of Mexico
Gulfs
Lagrangian function
Models, Theoretical
Nuclear accidents & safety
Oceanography - methods
Oceans
Oceans and Seas
Oil and Gas Fields
Oil spills
Physical Sciences
Salinity
Spacecraft launching
Turbulence
Turbulence models
Velocity
Velocity distribution
Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis
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Summary:Significance We report here on results obtained from the largest upper-ocean dispersion field program conducted to date. The observations provided, for the first time to our knowledge, an accurate and nearly simultaneous description of the ocean surface velocity field on spatial scales ranging from 100 m to 100 km. We show conclusively that ocean flows contain significant energy at scales below 10 km and that their fluctuations dictate the initial spread of tracer/pollutant clouds. Neither state-of-the art operational models nor satellite altimeters capture the flows needed for accurately estimating the dispersion of surface particles.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1402452111