Skip to content
DraconiticResearch
Search Sources API
203,234 studies31 sourcesUpdated 33 min ago
Peer-reviewedCC BYScience Advances

Direct observations of submesoscale turbulence driving mesoscale eddy leakage

  • Haijin Cao1,2
  • Zhiyou Jing3
  • Baylor Fox-Kemper4
  • Bo Qiu5
  • Joseph H. Lacasce6
  • Tong Yan3
6 affiliations
  1. 1Key Laboratory of Marine Hazards Forecasting, Ministry of Natural Resources, Hohai University, Nanjing, China.
  2. 2College of Oceanography, Hohai University, Nanjing, China.
  3. 3State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
  4. 4Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.
  5. 5Department of Oceanography, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA.
  6. 6Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Read full textPDFDOICite

Abstract

Understanding oceanic transport and material fate has long relied on observations that primarily resolve mesoscale, largely geostrophic flows, leaving the role of submesoscale turbulence comparatively unobserved and poorly understood. Here, using new high-resolution drifter-cluster experiments with closest initial spacings below 1 km, we provide direct Lagrangian observations of how submesoscale turbulence modifies mesoscale eddy coherence and transport pathways. The clustered drifters resolve intense, transient ageostrophic motions that are fundamentally absent from geostrophic descriptions of eddy behavior. Analyzed in an eddy-centered reference frame, the observations reveal pronounced submesoscale-driven radial dispersion that facilitates substantial water-mass exchange between the eddy core and its periphery in both the mixed layer and the subsurface. Quantitative estimates indicate submesoscale horizontal diffusivity of O(10 to 100) m²/s and a nonlocal dispersion regime across submesoscales. These results challenge the traditional view of mesoscale eddies as coherent structures containing a persistent water mass, with broad implications for interpreting and predicting the transport and fate of tracers in the ocean.

Related

  1. Are supernovae driving turbulence in the solar neighborhood?
    Georges Abboudeh, Patrick Hennebelle, Juan D Soler +9
    Astronomy & Astrophysics - A&APeer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Full text1 citedGalaxiesGeneral earth scienceHAL
  2. Submesoscale feedback suppresses marine heatwaves
    Jihai Dong, Wenjin Sun, Baylor Fox-Kemper +2
    Science AdvancesPeer-reviewedPublisher termsFull textOceanography & cryosphereCrossrefEurope PMC
  3. Diapycnal mixing in submesoscale-permitting simulations of the deep Brazil Basin
    Yonglin Huang, Annalisa Bracco, Kurt Polzin +1
    Ocean SciencePeer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Oceanography & cryosphereCrossref
  4. Linking Horizontal and Vertical Submesoscale Lagrangian Dynamics South of the Ibiza Channel
    Sara Cloux, Ismael Hernandez-Carrasco, Alejandro Orfila +2
    arXivPreprintCC BY-NC-ND 4.0Full textAtmospheric science & meteorologyFluid dynamicsarXiv
  5. Storm-modulated submesoscale dynamics over sloping topography in a wind-driven, non-tidal basin
    Evridiki Chrysagi, Lars Umlauf, Ulf Gräwe +2
    Ocean SciencePeer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Full textOceanography & cryosphereCrossref

Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{cao2026direct,
  title = {{Direct observations of submesoscale turbulence driving mesoscale eddy leakage}},
  author = {Haijin Cao and Zhiyou Jing and Baylor Fox-Kemper and Bo Qiu and Joseph H. Lacasce and Tong Yan},
  journal = {Science Advances},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1126/sciadv.aef8067},
  url = {https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aef8067},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Direct observations of submesoscale turbulence driving mesoscale eddy leakage
AU  - Haijin Cao
AU  - Zhiyou Jing
AU  - Baylor Fox-Kemper
AU  - Bo Qiu
AU  - Joseph H. Lacasce
AU  - Tong Yan
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/23
JO  - Science Advances
DO  - 10.1126/sciadv.aef8067
UR  - https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aef8067
AB  - Understanding oceanic transport and material fate has long relied on observations that primarily resolve mesoscale, largely geostrophic flows, leaving the role of submesoscale turbulence comparatively unobserved and poorly understood. Here, using new high-resolution drifter-cluster experiments with closest initial spacings below 1 km, we provide direct Lagrangian observations of how submesoscale turbulence modifies mesoscale eddy coherence and transport pathways. The clustered drifters resolve intense, transient ageostrophic motions that are fundamentally absent from geostrophic descriptions of eddy behavior. Analyzed in an eddy-centered reference frame, the observations reveal pronounced submesoscale-driven radial dispersion that facilitates substantial water-mass exchange between the eddy core and its periphery in both the mixed layer and the subsurface. Quantitative estimates indicate submesoscale horizontal diffusivity of O(10 to 100) m²/s and a nonlocal dispersion regime across submesoscales. These results challenge the traditional view of mesoscale eddies as coherent structures containing a persistent water mass, with broad implications for interpreting and predicting the transport and fate of tracers in the ocean.
SN  - 2375-2548
ER  -