Articles | Volume 26, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-26-37-2019
https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-26-37-2019
Research article
 | 
05 Apr 2019
Research article |  | 05 Apr 2019

Competition between chaotic advection and diffusion: stirring and mixing in a 3-D eddy model

Genevieve Jay Brett, Larry Pratt, Irina Rypina, and Peng Wang

Data sets

3D rotating cylinder eddy data G. Brett and P. Wang https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1560204

Model code and software

3D eddy initial release G. Brett https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1560663

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Short summary
The relative importance of chaotic stirring and smaller-scale turbulent mixing for the distribution of dye in an idealized ocean flow feature is quantified using three different methods. We find that stirring is the dominant process in large areas with fast stirring, while mixing dominates in small fast-stirring regions and all slow-stirring regions. This quantification of process dominance can help oceanographers think about when to model stirring accurately, which can be costly.