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Biological impact of ocean transport: A finite-size Lyapunov characterization

By Hernandez-Garcia, E.
Talk, 3rd Conference on Nonlinear Science and Complexity, Ankara, Turkey, July 2010. With a few modifications, also at the Workshop on Exploring Complex Dynamics in High-Dimensional Chaotic Systems: From Weather Forecasting to Oceanic Flows 2010

The Lagrangian description of fluid transport has been largely enriched with the introduction of stretching quantifiers such as the different types of Lyapunov exponents. Here we will focus on the finite-size Lyapunov exponent case, as applied to horizontal ocean flows estimated from satellite altimetry. The influence on biological organisms of the structures revealed by the Lyapunov analysis will be illustrated with examples from the bottom and from the top of marine ecosystems: The distribution of phytoplankton in ocean upwelling areas, and the trajectories of frigatebirds in the West Indian Ocean, which fly on top of the ridges of Lyapunov structures.

by Emilio Hernández-García, Cristóbal López, Ismael Hernández-Carrasco, Emilie Tew Kai, Vincent Rossi, Joël Sudre, Véronique Garçon