Intense submesoscale upwelling in anticyclonic eddies

Abstract

Observations from around the global ocean show that enhanced biological activity can be found in anticyclonic eddies. This may mean that upwelling of nutrient-rich water occurs within the eddy, but such upwelling is not captured by models that resolve mesoscale processes. High-resolution simulations presented here show intense submesoscale upwelling from the thermocline to the mixed layer in anticyclonic eddies. The properties of the upwelling are consistent with a process known as symmetric instability. A simple limiting nutrient experiment shows that this upwelling can drive much higher biological activity in anticyclonic eddies when there is a high nutrient concentration in the thermocline. An estimate for the magnitude of upwelling associated with symmetric instability in anticyclonic eddies in the Sargasso Sea shows that it may be of comparable magnitude to other processes, though further work is required to understand the full implications for basin-scale nutrient budgets.