Analysis of ageostrophy in strong surface eddies in the Atlantic Ocean

Strongly nonlinear surface eddies are identified and analyzed in a general circulation model. Agulhas rings and Gulf Stream cold‐core eddies are examples of eddies that cannot be properly characterized using linear geostrophic dynamics. These eddies are compact, highly circular, persistent in time, and travel long distances while maintaining their characteristics. The nonlinear eddies can be identified by a large Rossby number and high circularity. The majority of the anomalous eddies are anticyclones. Calculation of the balance of forces on these eddies demonstrates that the centrifugal force associated with strong curvature is significant, and the force balance shifts from geostrophy toward a gradient wind balance. Using geostrophy instead of the gradient wind balance produces large errors in estimates of rotational velocity of these eddies. The gradient wind velocity can be calculated from geostrophic velocity and eddy radius. Comparison between the results demonstrates that even when only sea surface height and associated geostrophic velocities are available, strongly nonlinear eddies can be identified and properly characterized. This analysis is then applied to altimetric maps of sea surface height. Nonlinear eddies are present in the altimetric maps, but are less common and not as strongly nonlinear. This analysis demonstrates that by properly accounting for the dynamics of the eddy field, a more complete statistical description including nonlinear terms can be obtained from readily available observations. Key Points: Large, nonlinear eddies are detected in the Atlantic Ocean The gradient wind balance can be used to describe nonlinear eddies Properties of nonlinear eddies can be found from geostrophic velocity fields