Ocean currents, propelled by kinetic energy from the wind, are the great moderators of our climate. By transferring heat from the equator to polar regions, they help make our planet habitable.<\/p>\n
And yet, the large-scale models used by scientists to study this complex system fail to accurately account for the impact of wind on the ocean\u2019s most energetic components: swirling, mesoscale eddies. These temporary, circular currents of water 50 to 500 kilometers in size are critical to determining the trajectory of larger ocean currents like the Gulf Stream.<\/p>\n
In a paper in Science Advances<\/em><\/a>, researchers from the University of Rochester<\/a> and Los Alamos National Laboratory<\/a> document for the first time how the wind, which propels larger currents, has the opposite effect on eddies less than 260 kilometers in size\u2014resulting in a phenomenon called \u201ceddy killing.\u201d<\/p>\n They also provide the first direct measurement of the overall impact of this eddy killing: a continual loss of 50 gigawatts of kinetic energy\u2014equivalent to the detonation of a Hiroshima nuclear bomb every 20 minutes, year-round.<\/p>\nBetter analysis with satellite observations<\/strong><\/h3>\n