Mathematical concepts and measures from dynamical systems theory are applied to identify commonalities across a diverse set of chaotic attractors to better understand the relationship between predictability, directions and rates of expansion and contraction of instabilities over finite time forecast horizons, and dimensionality. The patterns that emerge have broad implications for understanding many dynamical features of geophysical flows.

Recent advancements in regional ocean modelling allow higher resolution simulations providing improved estimates of the large-scale ocean state, while also revealing new insights into the fine-scale processes connecting the open ocean to the continental shelf seas. Our study highlights the importance of increased model resolution in regions of the ocean that are particularly turbulent while in quasi-stable circulation regions (e.g., jets), the current state-of-the-art global models do suffice.