Oceanic mesoscale eddies
Energetic features where strong three-dimensional circulations are set up and consequently enhanced biological activity take place.
Vertical Motion
Although relatively intense vertical exchanges in the oceans are associated with mesoscale structures, they are generally lower by a factor up to 104 than horizontal ones. Consequently vertical motion is not easily measured through direct observations.
Quasi-Geostrophic Dynamics
the most used technique to infer vertical velocity is based on the solution of the quasi-geostrophic Omega equation that has traditionally been applied to individual field campaigns without any temporal repetitivity.