# Stochastic variability of oceanic flows above topography anomalies

* Corresponding author
Abstract : We describe a stochastic variability mechanism which is genuinely internal to the ocean, i.e. not due to fluctuations in atmospheric forcing. % The key ingredient is the existence of closed contours of bottom topography surrounded by a stirring region of enhanced eddy activity. This configuration leads to the formation of a robust but highly variable vortex above the topography anomaly. The vortex dynamics integrates the white noise forcing of oceanic eddies into a red noise signal for the large scale volume transport of the vortex. The strong interannual fluctuations of the transport of the Zapiola anticyclone ($\sim 100 \ Sv$) in the Argentine basin are argued to be partly due to such eddy-driven stochastic variability, on the basis of a $310$ years long simulation of a comprehensive global ocean model run driven by a repeated-year forcing.
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Journal articles

Cited literature [32 references]

https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00577907
Contributor : Antoine Venaille <>
Submitted on : Saturday, July 23, 2011 - 2:23:00 PM
Last modification on : Thursday, January 3, 2019 - 4:30:08 PM
Document(s) archivé(s) le : Friday, November 4, 2011 - 3:17:09 PM

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### Identifiers

• HAL Id : hal-00577907, version 2
• ARXIV : 1103.4445

### Citation

Antoine Venaille, Julien Le Sommer, Jean-Marc Molines, Bernard Barnier. Stochastic variability of oceanic flows above topography anomalies. Geophysical Research Letters, American Geophysical Union, 2011, 38 (16), pp.DOI: 10.1029/2011GL048401. ⟨hal-00577907v2⟩

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