Anticyclone cleavage

The cyclone C1 (green) propagates to the southwest, cutting through the eastern part of the warm ring W1 (yellow) rather than wedging between the ring and the LC as suggested by the model altimetry. Around day 162, C1 begins to cleave W1 and by day 166, the eastern part of W1 (about 16% of its area) is completely detached. Both C1 and the detached portion of W1 experience intense small-scale mixing as indicated by the rapid development of filamentation of the boundary. By day 171, C1 and the detached piece of W1 are well mixed with ambient water and each other and are no longer coherent. The remaining part of the ring (84% area) continues coherent anticyclonic rotation.

Last modified: Tue Nov 28 18:35:28 EST 2000