Near-inertial waves and coherent vortex interactions in the ocean

In the ocean, the interactions between rapidly evolving near-inertial waves (NIWs) and slowly evolving larger-scale coherent vortices significantly impact the oceanic energy budget. Our objective is to identify these ocean movements, understand energy transfers between such flows, and discern their signatures on various oceanic fields. We investigated these idealized flows using high-resolution numerical simulations. This study focuses on two types of vortices: cyclonic and anticyclonic. Additionally, we decomposed the flow into three fields: barotropic-baroclinic, wave-balance, and slow-fast. Our findings reveal notable differences in coherent vortex breaking between cyclonic and anticyclonic cases during their interaction with NIWs. Breaking initiation occurs within the inner core of the vortex column in the anticyclone case, whereas the cyclone initiates breaking from its periphery. Furthermore, when comparing the energy dissipation of the slow and fast fields, the fast field experiences considerably more energy dissipation than the slow field. These findings will advance our understanding of wave-vortex interactions and unveil the pathways of energy flow in the ocean.