ABSTRACT
Despite the fascinatingly complex behavior of ocean flows, mesoscale (a few hundreds of km) and submesoscale (a few decades of km) coherent structures are clearly visible on satellite images of the sea surface temperature (SST) and ocean color. These are major currents like the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic and the Kuroshio in the Pacific and many other jet currents in different seas and oceans. The other examples are long-lived rings, the mesoscale eddies that detach regularly from the Gulf Stream, the Kuroshio, and the other major currents. These coherent structures impact the waters through which they pass because they exchange their waters with specific temperature, salinity, chlorophyll concentration, etc., with ambient waters. Such a fluid exchangemay have a great impact on climate, biota, and pollution propagation. Thus, transport and mixing of water masses are important processes in the ocean.
