Assessing the thermohaline coherence of mesoscale eddies  as described from in situ data

Barabinot, Yan; Speich, Sabrina; Carton, Xavier

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-151-2025

Articles | Volume 21, issue 1

https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-151-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-151-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 21, issue 1

Research article

|

27 Jan 2025

Research article |

| 27 Jan 2025

Assessing the thermohaline coherence of mesoscale eddies as described from in situ data

Yan Barabinot, Sabrina Speich, and Xavier Carton

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-151-2025-supplement

Data sets

Concatenated Temperature, Salinity, and Velocity measurements from EUREC4A_OA/ATOMIC (CTD, uCTD, MVP and S-ADCP data from the R/Vs L'Atalante and Maria S. Merian) Pierre L'Hegaret et al. https://doi.org/10.17882/92071

Raw multibeam EM122 data: METEOR cruise M124 (SE Atlantic) Johannes Karstensen and Anne-Cathrin Wölfl https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.869740

Physical oceanography during METEOR cruise M124 Johannes Karstensen and Gerd Krahmann https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.863015

ADCP current measurements (38 and 75 kHz) during METEOR cruise M160 Marcus Dengler et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.943409

Physical oceanography (CTD) during METEOR cruise M160 Marcus Dengler et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.943432

Underway CTD data collected during METEOR cruise M160 Marcus Dengler et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.943657

Lowered ADCP data during MARIA S. MERIAN cruise MSM60/1 Johannes Karstensen https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.915879

Physical oceanography (CTD) during Maria S. Merian cruise MSM60/1 Johannes Karstensen https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.915898

ADCP current measurements (38 and 75 kHz) during Maria S. Merian cruise MSM60/1 Johannes Karstensen et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.915906

ADCP current measurements (38 and 75 kHz) during Maria S. Merian cruise MSM74 Johannes Karstensen and Rena Czeschel https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.929000

Physical oceanography (CTD) during Maria S. Merian cruise MSM74 Johannes Karstensen and Gerd Krahmann https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.928976

Physindien 2011 Seasoar measurements Pierre L'Hégaret and Xavier Carton https://doi.org/10.17882/77351

Ocean currents, hydrography and microstructure data from PROVOLO cruises Ilker Fer et al. https://doi.org/10.21335/NMDC-1093031037

AtlantOS data products from multibeam EM122 data: METEOR cruise M124 (Atlantic) Anne-Cathrin Wölfl and Martin Schade https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.902947

Oceanic & atmospheric variability in the South Atlantic Cruise No. M124 29. February–18. March 2016 Cape Town (Republic South Africa)–Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) Johannes Karstensen et al. https://doi.org/10.3289/CR_M124

Short summary

Mesoscale eddies are ubiquitous rotating currents in the ocean. Some eddies, called "materially coherent", are able to transport a different water mass from the surrounding water. By analyzing 3D eddy structures sampled during oceanographic cruises, we found that eddies can be nonmaterially coherent, accounting only for their surface properties, but materially coherent considering their properties at depth. Future studies cannot rely solely on satellite data to evaluate heat and salt transport.