Surface flow structure of the Gulf Stream from composite imagery and satellite-tracked drifters
International audience A unique set of coutemporaneous satellite-tracked drifters and five-day composite Advanced Very High Resolution Radionmeter (AVHRR) satellite imagery of the North Atlantic has been analyzed to examine the surface flow structure of the Gulf Stream. The study region was divided...
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ftinsu:oai:HAL:hal-00301726v1 2023-11-12T04:22:31+01:00 Surface flow structure of the Gulf Stream from composite imagery and satellite-tracked drifters Mullen, C. P. Kirwan, Jr., A. D. Center for Coastal Physical Oceanography Old Dominion University Norfolk (ODU) 1994 https://hal.science/hal-00301726 https://hal.science/hal-00301726/document https://hal.science/hal-00301726/file/npg-1-64-1994.pdf en eng HAL CCSD European Geosciences Union (EGU) hal-00301726 https://hal.science/hal-00301726 https://hal.science/hal-00301726/document https://hal.science/hal-00301726/file/npg-1-64-1994.pdf info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess ISSN: 1023-5809 EISSN: 1607-7946 Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics https://hal.science/hal-00301726 Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics, 1994, 1 (1), pp.64-71 [PHYS.ASTR.CO]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO] [SDU.ASTR]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph] [SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 1994 ftinsu 2023-10-25T16:26:53Z International audience A unique set of coutemporaneous satellite-tracked drifters and five-day composite Advanced Very High Resolution Radionmeter (AVHRR) satellite imagery of the North Atlantic has been analyzed to examine the surface flow structure of the Gulf Stream. The study region was divided into two sections, greater than 37° N and less than 37° N, in order to answer the question of geographic variability. Fractal and spectral analyses methods were applied to the data. Fractal analysis of the Lagrangian trajectories showed a fractal dimension of 1.21 + 0.02 with a scaling range of 83 - 343 km. The fractal dimension of the temperature fronts of the composite imagery is similar for the two regions with D = 1.11 + 0.01 over a scaling range of 4 - 44 km. Spectral analysis also reports a fairly consistent value for the spectral slope and its scaling range. Therefore, we conclude there is no geographic variability in the data set. A suitable scaling range for this contemporaneous data set is 80 - 200 km which is consistent with the expected physical conditions in the region. Finally, we address the idea of using five-day composite imagery to infer the surface flow of the Gulf Stream. Close analyses of the composite thermal fronts and the Lagrangian drifter trajectories show that the former is not a good indicator of the latter. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Institut national des sciences de l'Univers: HAL-INSU |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Institut national des sciences de l'Univers: HAL-INSU |
op_collection_id |
ftinsu |
language |
English |
topic |
[PHYS.ASTR.CO]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO] [SDU.ASTR]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph] [SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences |
spellingShingle |
[PHYS.ASTR.CO]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO] [SDU.ASTR]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph] [SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences Mullen, C. P. Kirwan, Jr., A. D. Surface flow structure of the Gulf Stream from composite imagery and satellite-tracked drifters |
topic_facet |
[PHYS.ASTR.CO]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO] [SDU.ASTR]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph] [SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences |
description |
International audience A unique set of coutemporaneous satellite-tracked drifters and five-day composite Advanced Very High Resolution Radionmeter (AVHRR) satellite imagery of the North Atlantic has been analyzed to examine the surface flow structure of the Gulf Stream. The study region was divided into two sections, greater than 37° N and less than 37° N, in order to answer the question of geographic variability. Fractal and spectral analyses methods were applied to the data. Fractal analysis of the Lagrangian trajectories showed a fractal dimension of 1.21 + 0.02 with a scaling range of 83 - 343 km. The fractal dimension of the temperature fronts of the composite imagery is similar for the two regions with D = 1.11 + 0.01 over a scaling range of 4 - 44 km. Spectral analysis also reports a fairly consistent value for the spectral slope and its scaling range. Therefore, we conclude there is no geographic variability in the data set. A suitable scaling range for this contemporaneous data set is 80 - 200 km which is consistent with the expected physical conditions in the region. Finally, we address the idea of using five-day composite imagery to infer the surface flow of the Gulf Stream. Close analyses of the composite thermal fronts and the Lagrangian drifter trajectories show that the former is not a good indicator of the latter. |
author2 |
Center for Coastal Physical Oceanography Old Dominion University Norfolk (ODU) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Mullen, C. P. Kirwan, Jr., A. D. |
author_facet |
Mullen, C. P. Kirwan, Jr., A. D. |
author_sort |
Mullen, C. P. |
title |
Surface flow structure of the Gulf Stream from composite imagery and satellite-tracked drifters |
title_short |
Surface flow structure of the Gulf Stream from composite imagery and satellite-tracked drifters |
title_full |
Surface flow structure of the Gulf Stream from composite imagery and satellite-tracked drifters |
title_fullStr |
Surface flow structure of the Gulf Stream from composite imagery and satellite-tracked drifters |
title_full_unstemmed |
Surface flow structure of the Gulf Stream from composite imagery and satellite-tracked drifters |
title_sort |
surface flow structure of the gulf stream from composite imagery and satellite-tracked drifters |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
1994 |
url |
https://hal.science/hal-00301726 https://hal.science/hal-00301726/document https://hal.science/hal-00301726/file/npg-1-64-1994.pdf |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
ISSN: 1023-5809 EISSN: 1607-7946 Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics https://hal.science/hal-00301726 Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics, 1994, 1 (1), pp.64-71 |
op_relation |
hal-00301726 https://hal.science/hal-00301726 https://hal.science/hal-00301726/document https://hal.science/hal-00301726/file/npg-1-64-1994.pdf |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess |
_version_ |
1782337552568549376 |