Ras Al Hadd eddy tracking in the Arabian Sea

The Ras al Hadd oceanic dipole is a recurrent association of a cyclone (to the northeast) and of an anticyclone (to the southwest), which forms in summer and breaks up at the end of autumn. It lies near the Ras al Hadd cape, southeast of the Arabian peninsula. Its size is on the order of 100 km. Along the axis of this dipole flows an intense jet, the Ras al Had jet. Using altimetric data and an eddy detection and tracking algorithm (AMEDA: Angular Momentum Eddy Detection and tracking Algorithm), we describe the life cycle of this oceanic dipole over a year (2014–2015). We also use the results of a numerical model (HYCOM, the HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model) simulation, and hydrological data from ARGO profilers, to characterize the vertical structure of the two eddies composing the dipole, and their variability over a 15 year period. We show that (1) before the dipole is formed, the two eddies that will compose it, come from different locations to join near Ras al Hadd, (2) the dipole remains near Ras al Hadd during summer and fall while the wind stress (due to the summer monsoon wind) intensifies the cyclone, (3) both the anticyclone and the cyclone reach the depth of the Persian Gulf Water outflow, and (4) their horizontal radial velocity profile is often close to Gaussian but it can vary as the dipole interacts with neighboring eddies. As a conclusion, further work with a process model is recommended to quantify the interaction of this dipole with surrounding eddies and with the atmosphere.

Disciplines

Physical oceanography

Keywords

Arabian Sea, AVISO, ARGO, AMEDA, Ras Al Hadd dipole, Eddy Tracking

Location

20N, 26S, 57E, 65W

Data

FileSizeFormatProcessingAccess
Eddy Track and Argo colocalization (AMEDA outputs) for the Ras Al Hadd dipole
12 MoNetCDFProcessed data
AVISO SATELLITE DATA (DYNED ATLAS) - ARABIAN SEA (2014/2015)
444 MoNetCDFProcessed data
How to cite
Ayouche Adam, Carton Xavier, de Marez Charly, Morvan Mathieu, L'Hégaret Pierre, Stegner Alexandre, Le Vu Briac (2000). Ras Al Hadd eddy tracking in the Arabian Sea. SEANOE. https://doi.org/10.17882/79370
In addition to properly cite this dataset, it would be appreciated that the following work(s) be cited too, when using this dataset in a publication :
Ayouche Adam, de Marez Charly, Morvan Mathieu, L'Hegaret Pierre, Carton Xavier, Le Vu Briac, Stegner Alexandre (2021). Structure and Dynamics of the Ras al Hadd Oceanic Dipole in the Arabian Sea. Oceans-switzerland. 2 (1). 105-125. https://doi.org/10.3390/oceans2010007, https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00679/79107/

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