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https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-250
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-250
09 May 2022
 | 09 May 2022

Applying dynamical systems techniques to real ocean drifters

Irina I. Rypina, Timothy Getscher, Lawrence Pratt, and Tamay Ozgokmen

Abstract. This paper presents the first comprehensive comparison of several different dynamical-systems-based measures of stirring and Lagrangian coherence, computed from real ocean drifters. Seven commonly used methods (finite-time Lyapunov exponent, trajectory path length, trajectory correlation dimension, trajectory encounter volume, Lagrangian-averaged vorticity deviation, dilation, and spectral clustering) were applied to 135 surface drifters in the Gulf of Mexico in order to map out the dominant Lagrangian coherent structures. Among the detected structures were regions of hyperbolic nature resembling stable manifolds from classical examples, divergent and convergent zones, and groups of drifters that moved more coherently and stayed closer together than the rest of the drifters. Many methods highlighted the same structures, but there were differences too. Overall, 5 out of 7 methods provided useful information about the geometry of transport within the domain spanned by the drifters.

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Journal article(s) based on this preprint

07 Oct 2022
Applying dynamical systems techniques to real ocean drifters
Irina I. Rypina, Timothy Getscher, Lawrence J. Pratt, and Tamay Ozgokmen
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 29, 345–361, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-29-345-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-29-345-2022, 2022
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This paper applies different Lagrangian methods to identify Lagrangian Coherent Structures based...
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