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Ann. Geophys., 19, 121-129, 2001
www.ann-geophys.net/19/121/2001/
© European Geosciences Union 2001

Drifter dispersion in the Adriatic Sea: Lagrangian data and chaotic model

G. Lacorata¹, E. Aurell², and A. Vulpiani^3
1Dipartimento di Fisica, Università dell’Aquila, Via Vetoio 1, I-67010 Coppito, L’Aquila, Italy, Istituto di Fisica dell’Atmosfera, CNR, Via Fosso del Cavaliere, I-00133 Roma, Italy,
and Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Roma “La Sapienza", Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, I-00185 Roma, Italy
²Department of Mathematics, Stockholm University, S-10691 Stockholm, Sweden
³Istituto Nazionale Fisica della Materia, Unità di Roma 1 and Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Roma “La Sapienza", Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, I-00185 Roma, Italy
Correspondence to: G. Lacorata, (Guglielmo.Lacorata@aquila.infn.it)

Abstract. We analyze characteristics of drifter trajectories from the Adriatic Sea with recently introduced nonlinear dynamics techniques. We discuss how in quasi-enclosed basins, relative dispersion as a function of time, a standard analysis tool in this context, may give a distorted picture of the dynamics. We further show that useful information may be obtained by using two related non-asymptotic indicators, the Finite-Scale Lyapunov Exponent (FSLE) and the Lagrangian Structure Function (LSF), which both describe intrinsic physical properties at a given scale. We introduce a simple chaotic model for drifter motion in this system, and show by comparison with the model that Lagrangian dispersion is mainly driven by advection at sub-basin scales until saturation sets in.

Key words. Oceanography: General (marginal and semi-closed seas) – Oceanography: Physical (turbulence, diffusion, and mixing processes; upper ocean processes)

Full Article (PDF, 445 KB)

Citation: Lacorata, G., Aurell, E., and Vulpiani, A.: Drifter dispersion in the Adriatic Sea: Lagrangian data and chaotic model, Ann. Geophys., 19, 121-129, 2001.   Bibtex   EndNote   Reference Manager