Spirals on the sea
Spiral eddies were first seen in the sun glitter on the Apollo Mission 30 years ago; they have since been recorded on SAR missions and in the infrared. The spirals are globally distributed, 10-25 km in size and overwhelmingly cyclonic. They have not been explained. Under light winds favorable to vis...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas
2001-12-01
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| Series: | Scientia Marina |
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| Online Access: | http://scientiamarina.revistas.csic.es/index.php/scientiamarina/article/view/693 |
| _version_ | 1829143816165130240 |
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| author | Walter Munk |
| author_facet | Walter Munk |
| author_sort | Walter Munk |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Spiral eddies were first seen in the sun glitter on the Apollo Mission 30 years ago; they have since been recorded on SAR missions and in the infrared. The spirals are globally distributed, 10-25 km in size and overwhelmingly cyclonic. They have not been explained. Under light winds favorable to visualization, linear surface features with high surfactant density and low surface roughness are of common occurrence. We have proposed that frontal formations concentrate the ambient shear and prevailing surfactants. Horizontal shear instabilities ensue when the shear becomes comparable to the coriolis frequency. The resulting vortices wind the liner features into spirals. The hypothesis needs to be tested by prolonged measurements and surface truth. Spiral eddies are a manifestation of a sub-mesoscale oceanography associated with upper ocean stirring; dimensional considerations suggest a horizontal diffusivity of order 103 m2 s-1. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T20:56:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e041be23ac864843845a432e89ff1159 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0214-8358 1886-8134 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T20:56:58Z |
| publishDate | 2001-12-01 |
| publisher | Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientia Marina |
| spelling | doaj.art-e041be23ac864843845a432e89ff11592022-12-21T22:47:40ZengConsejo Superior de Investigaciones CientíficasScientia Marina0214-83581886-81342001-12-0165S219319810.3989/scimar.2001.65s2193687Spirals on the seaWalter Munk0University of California at San DiegoSpiral eddies were first seen in the sun glitter on the Apollo Mission 30 years ago; they have since been recorded on SAR missions and in the infrared. The spirals are globally distributed, 10-25 km in size and overwhelmingly cyclonic. They have not been explained. Under light winds favorable to visualization, linear surface features with high surfactant density and low surface roughness are of common occurrence. We have proposed that frontal formations concentrate the ambient shear and prevailing surfactants. Horizontal shear instabilities ensue when the shear becomes comparable to the coriolis frequency. The resulting vortices wind the liner features into spirals. The hypothesis needs to be tested by prolonged measurements and surface truth. Spiral eddies are a manifestation of a sub-mesoscale oceanography associated with upper ocean stirring; dimensional considerations suggest a horizontal diffusivity of order 103 m2 s-1.http://scientiamarina.revistas.csic.es/index.php/scientiamarina/article/view/693remote sensingair-sea boundaryfrontal formationmixing |
| spellingShingle | Walter Munk Spirals on the sea Scientia Marina remote sensing air-sea boundary frontal formation mixing |
| title | Spirals on the sea |
| title_full | Spirals on the sea |
| title_fullStr | Spirals on the sea |
| title_full_unstemmed | Spirals on the sea |
| title_short | Spirals on the sea |
| title_sort | spirals on the sea |
| topic | remote sensing air-sea boundary frontal formation mixing |
| url | http://scientiamarina.revistas.csic.es/index.php/scientiamarina/article/view/693 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT waltermunk spiralsonthesea |