Recently, scientists have identified that the ocean is filled with small "sub-mesoscale" eddies that are approximately one to ten kilometers in size. It appears that vortices generated around islands are an important source for these eddies. The eddies themselves are regions where there are significant biological and ecological activity and hence it is important to understand the processes that generate them. In this study, scientists at UCLA will use high-resolution regional ocean models to examine the processes that generate these eddies. They will first examine the wake generated with a series of idealized islands. Armed with knowledge from these experiments, they will then consider more realistic settings including models of the island wakes associated with islands in the Southern California Bight and the Canary Islands. This project will have an impact on our understanding of how these eddies impact biological production which may be applied in the future to near-coastal studies of marine resources, fisheries, and human perturbations.
