Articles | Volume 27, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-27-501-2020
https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-27-501-2020
Research article
 | 
14 Nov 2020
Research article |  | 14 Nov 2020

Detecting flow features in scarce trajectory data using networks derived from symbolic itineraries: an application to surface drifters in the North Atlantic

David Wichmann, Christian Kehl, Henk A. Dijkstra, and Erik van Sebille

Related authors

Ordering of trajectories reveals hierarchical finite-time coherent sets in Lagrangian particle data: detecting Agulhas rings in the South Atlantic Ocean
David Wichmann, Christian Kehl, Henk A. Dijkstra, and Erik van Sebille
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 28, 43–59, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-28-43-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-28-43-2021, 2021
Short summary

Related subject area

Subject: Bifurcation, dynamical systems, chaos, phase transition, nonlinear waves, pattern formation | Topic: Climate, atmosphere, ocean, hydrology, cryosphere, biosphere | Techniques: Big data and artificial intelligence
An adjoint-free algorithm for conditional nonlinear optimal perturbations (CNOPs) via sampling
Bin Shi and Guodong Sun
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 30, 263–276, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-30-263-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-30-263-2023, 2023
Short summary
Applying dynamical systems techniques to real ocean drifters
Irina I. Rypina, Timothy Getscher, Lawrence J. Pratt, and Tamay Ozgokmen
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 29, 345–361, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-29-345-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-29-345-2022, 2022
Short summary
Observations of shoaling internal wave transformation over a gentle slope in the South China Sea
Steven R. Ramp, Yiing Jang Yang, Ching-Sang Chiu, D. Benjamin Reeder, and Frederick L. Bahr
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 29, 279–299, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-29-279-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-29-279-2022, 2022
Short summary
Regional study of mode-2 internal solitary waves at the Pacific coast of Central America using marine seismic survey data
Wenhao Fan, Haibin Song, Yi Gong, Shun Yang, and Kun Zhang
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 29, 141–160, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-29-141-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-29-141-2022, 2022
Short summary
Enhanced internal tidal mixing in the Philippine Sea mesoscale environment
Jia You, Zhenhua Xu, Qun Li, Robin Robertson, Peiwen Zhang, and Baoshu Yin
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 28, 271–284, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-28-271-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-28-271-2021, 2021
Short summary

Cited articles

Banisch, R. and Koltai, P.: Understanding the geometry of transport: Diffusion maps for Lagrangian trajectory data unravel coherent sets, Chaos: An Interdisc. J. Nonlin. Sci., 27, 035804, https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4971788, 2017. a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m
Banisch, R., Koltai, P., and Padberg-Gehle, K.: Network measures of mixing, Chaos: An Interdisc. J. Nonlin. Sci., 29, 063125, https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5087632, 2019. a
Beal, L. M. and Elipot, S.: Broadening not strengthening of the Agulhas Current since the early 1990s, Nature, 540, 570–573, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature19853, 2016. a
Bower, A., Lozier, S., Biastoch, A., Drouin, K., Foukal, N., Furey, H., Lankhorst, M., Rühs, S., and Zou, S.: Lagrangian views of the pathways of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 124, 5313–5335, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JC015014, 2019. a, b
Brambilla, E. and Talley, L. D.: Surface drifter exchange between the North Atlantic subtropical and subpolar gyres, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 111, C07026, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JC003146, 2006. a, b
Download
Short summary
The surface transport of heat, nutrients and plastic in the North Atlantic Ocean is organized into large-scale flow structures. We propose a new and simple method to detect such features in ocean drifter data sets by identifying groups of trajectories with similar dynamical behaviour using network theory. We successfully detect well-known regions such as the Subpolar and Subtropical gyres, the Western Boundary Current region and the Caribbean Sea.