Intensification of a rain system imparted by Mediterranean mesoscale eddies.

Ocean mesoscale eddies, with km size, present in energetic regions of the global ocean, are known to impact local and remote atmospheric weather. The impact of eddies in the Mediterranean Sea on the local weather, however, remains largely unknown. Here, we study this impact during an extreme weather event observed over Israel on January , 2020, resulting in heavy rains and floods.

Two-dimensional turbulence above topography: Vortices and potential vorticity homogenization.

The evolution of unforced and weakly damped two-dimensional turbulence over random rough topography presents two extreme states. If the initial kinetic energy [Formula: see text] is sufficiently high, then the topography is a weak perturbation, and evolution is determined by the spontaneous formation and mutual interaction of coherent axisymmetric vortices. High-energy vortices roam throughout the domain and mix the background potential vorticity (PV) to homogeneity, i.

Polar vortex crystals: Emergence and structure.

Vortex crystals are quasiregular arrays of like-signed vortices in solid-body rotation embedded within a uniform background of weaker vorticity. Vortex crystals are observed at the poles of Jupiter and in laboratory experiments with magnetized electron plasmas in axisymmetric geometries. We show that vortex crystals form from the free evolution of randomly excited two-dimensional turbulence on an idealized polar cap.

Submesoscale ocean fronts act as biological hotspot for southern elephant seal.

The area west of the Kerguelen Islands (20-70°E/45-60°S) is characterized by a weak mesoscale activity except for a standing meander region of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) localized between 20 and 40°E. A unique bio-physical dataset at high-resolution collected by a southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) reveals a conspicuous increase in foraging activity at the standing meander site up to 5 times larger than during the rest of her three-month trip west of the Kerguelen Islands. Here, we propose a physical explanation for such high biological activity based on the study of small-scale fronts with scales of 5 to 20 km, also called submesoscales.