Contribution of mesoscale eddies to energy of the Lofoten Basin

A comparative assessment of the contribution of eddies and other dynamic structures to the energy of the Lofoten Basin is carried out. The basis of the study is the data of global ocean reanalysis GLORYS12V1 for 1993–2019. We estimate the total kinetic and potential energy as well as the corresponding contribution of eddy energy for a region bounded by an isobath of 3000 m. We use the method of automatic identification of vortices for the analysis which allows us to calculate the eddy kinetic and potential energy in the automatically selected areas of the eddies. We establish that the potential energy of both cyclones and anticyclones is on average 2–3 times higher than the kinetic energy values, and the energy values of kinetic and potential for anticyclones dominate relative to the energy of cyclones. We also consider the interannual variability and seasonal course of eddy kinetic and potential energy. The seasonal course revealed an increase in both types of energy in the winter months. It is established that the contribution of eddies to the total energy of the basin is small. The contribution of eddy kinetic energy to the total energy of the basin is 7.3%, and the contribution of eddy potential energy is 8.4%. This means that the main contribution to the energy of the basin is made not by mesoscale eddies, but by other dynamic structures i.e. filaments and background flow.