Statistics of Simulated and Observed Pair Separations in the Gulf of Mexico

Abstract

air-separation statistics of in situ and synthetic surface drifters deployed near the Deepwater Horizon site in the Gulf of Mexico are investigated. The synthetic trajectories derive from a 1-km-resolution data-assimilative Navy Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM) simulation. The in situ drifters were launched in the Grand Lagrangian Deployment (GLAD). Diverse measures of the dispersion are calculated and compared to theoretical predictions. For the NCOM pairs, the measures indicate nonlocal pair dispersion (in which pair separations grow exponentially in time) at the smallest sampled scales. At separations exceeding 100 km, pair motion is uncorrelated, indicating absolute rather than relative dispersion. With the GLAD drifters, however, the statistics are ambiguous, with some indicating local dispersion (in which pair separations exhibit power-law growth) and others suggesting nonlocal dispersion. The difference between the two datasets stems in part from inertial oscillations, which affect the energy levels at small scales without greatly altering pair dispersion. These were significant in GLAD but much weaker in the NCOM simulation. In addition, the GLAD drifters were launched over a limited geographical area, producing few independent realizations and hence lower statistical significance. Restricting the NCOM set to pairs launched at the same locations yields very similar results, suggesting the model is for the most part capturing the observed dispersion.