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Title: Census of Gulf Stream Warm Core Ring formation from 2018 to 2023
This dataset consists of a census of warm core ring formation locations, times, and sizes from the Gulf Stream between 2018 and 2023. This work builds upon the following dataset:   Gangopadhyay, A., Gawarkiewicz, G. (2020) Yearly census of Gulf Stream Warm Core Ring formation from 1980 to 2017. Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). (Version 1) Version Date 2020-05-06 [if applicable, indicate subset used]. doi:10.26008/1912/bco-dmo.810182.1 [access date]   In addition, it is related to two additional datasets containing warm core ring weekly tracking data:   (i) Warm Core Ring trajectory information from 2011 to 2020 -- Silver et al. (2022a) (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6436380). (ii) Warm Core Ring Trajectories in the Northwest Atlantic Slope Sea (2021-2023) – Porter et al. (2024) (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10392322) The format of this data set is similar to the datasets mentioned above, and the following description is adapted from those. This dataset contains a yearly census of Gulf Stream Warm Core Ring formation from 2018 to 2023. This continuous census file contains the formation and demise times and locations, and the area at formation for warm core rings that lived a week or more. Each row represents a unique Warm Core Ring and is identified by a unique alphanumeric code 'WEyyyymmddA', where 'WE' represents a Warm Eddy (as identified in the analysis charts); 'yyyymmdd' is the year, month and day of formation; and the last character 'A' represents the sequential sighting of the eddies in a particular year. For example, the first ring formed in 2018, having a trailing alphabet of 'G', indicates that six rings were carried over from 2017, which are still observed on January 1, 2018.   Creating the WCR tracking dataset follows the same methodology as the previously generated WCR census (Gangopadhyay et al., 2019, 2020). This census was created from Jenifer Clark’s Gulf Stream Charts. These charts show the location, extent, and temperature signature of currents (GS, shelf-slope front), warm and cold-core rings (WCRs and CCRs), other eddies, shingles, intrusions, and other water mass boundaries in the Gulf of Maine, over Georges Bank, and in the Middle Atlantic Bight. An example chart is shown in Figure 1a of Gangopadhyay et al. (2019). A year-long animation for these charts for 2017 is presented in the supporting information of Gangopadhyay et al. (2020) https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2019JC016033. The charts are generated 2-3 times a week from 2018 to 2023. Thus, we used approximately 624+ Charts for the 6 years of analysis. These charts were then reanalyzed between 75°W and 55°W using QGIS 2.18.16 (2016) and geo-referenced on a WGS84 coordinate system (Decker, 1986).          more » « less
Award ID(s):
2123283
PAR ID:
10654216
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
Zenodo
Date Published:
Edition / Version:
V1
Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
Gulf Stream Warm Core Rings North Atlantic
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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  1. {"Abstract":["This dataset consists of weekly trajectory information of Gulf Stream Warm Core Rings from 2000-2010. This work builds upon Silver et al. (2022a) ( https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6436380) which contained Warm Core Ring trajectory information from 2011 to 2020. Combining the two datasets a total of 21 years of weekly Warm Core Ring trajectories can be obtained. An example of how to use such a dataset can be found in Silver et al. (2022b).<\/p>\n\nThe format of the dataset is similar to that of  Silver et al. (2022a), and the following description is adapted from their dataset. This dataset is comprised of individual files containing each ring\u2019s weekly center location and its area for 374 WCRs present between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2010. Each Warm Core Ring is identified by a unique alphanumeric code 'WEyyyymmddA', where 'WE' represents a Warm Eddy (as identified in the analysis charts); 'yyyymmdd' is the year, month and day of formation; and the last character 'A' represents the sequential sighting of the eddies in a particular year. Continuity of a ring which passes from one year to the next is maintained by the same character in the first sighting.  For example, the first ring in 2002 having a trailing alphabet of 'F' indicates that five rings were carried over from 2001 which were still observed on January 1, 2002. Each ring has its own netCDF (.nc) filename following its alphanumeric code. Each file contains 4 variables, \u201cLon\u201d- the ring center\u2019s weekly longitude, \u201cLat\u201d- the ring center\u2019s weekly latitude, \u201cArea\u201d - the rings weekly size in km2<\/sup>, and \u201cDate\u201d in days - representing the days since Jan 01, 0000. <\/p>\n\nThe process of creating the WCR tracking dataset follows the same methodology of the previously generated WCR census (Gangopadhyay et al., 2019, 2020). The Jenifer Clark\u2019s Gulf Stream Charts used to create this dataset are 2-3 times a week from 2000-2010. Thus, we used approximately 1560 Charts for the 10 years of analysis. All of these charts were reanalyzed between 75° and 55°W using QGIS 2.18.16 (2016) and geo-referenced on a WGS84 coordinate system (Decker, 1986). <\/p>\n\n <\/p>\n\nSilver, A., Gangopadhyay, A, & Gawarkiewicz, G. (2022a). Warm Core Ring Trajectories in the Northwest Atlantic Slope Sea (2011-2020) (1.0.0) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6436380<\/p>\n\nSilver, A., Gangopadhyay, A., Gawarkiewicz, G., Andres, M., Flierl, G., & Clark, J. (2022b). Spatial Variability of Movement, Structure, and Formation of Warm Core Rings in the Northwest Atlantic Slope Sea. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans<\/em>, 127<\/em>(8), e2022JC018737. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JC018737 <\/p>\n\nGangopadhyay, A., G. Gawarkiewicz, N. Etige, M. Monim and J. Clark, 2019. An Observed Regime Shift in the Formation of Warm Core Rings from the Gulf Stream, Nature - Scientific Reports, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-48661-9. www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-48661-9.<\/p>\n\nGangopadhyay, A., N. Etige, G. Gawarkiewicz, A. M. Silver, M. Monim and J. Clark, 2020.  A Census of the Warm Core Rings of the Gulf Stream (1980-2017). Journal of Geophysical Research, Oceans, 125, e2019JC016033. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JC016033.<\/p>\n\nQGIS Development Team. QGIS Geographic Information System (2016).<\/p>\n\nDecker, B. L. World Geodetic System 1984. World geodetic system 1984 (1986).<\/p>\n\n <\/p>"],"Other":["Funded by two NSF US grants OCE-1851242, OCE-212328","{"references": ["Silver, A., Gangopadhyay, A, & Gawarkiewicz, G. (2022). Warm Core Ring Trajectories in the Northwest Atlantic Slope Sea (2011-2020) (1.0.0) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6436380", "Silver, A., Gangopadhyay, A., Gawarkiewicz, G., Andres, M., Flierl, G., & Clark, J. (2022b). Spatial Variability of Movement, Structure, and Formation of Warm Core Rings in the Northwest Atlantic Slope Sea.\\u00a0Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans,\\u00a0127(8), e2022JC018737.\\u00a0https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JC018737", "Gangopadhyay, A., G. Gawarkiewicz, N. Etige, M. Monim and J. Clark, 2019. An Observed Regime Shift in the Formation of Warm Core Rings from the Gulf Stream, Nature - Scientific Reports, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-48661-9. www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-48661-9.", "Gangopadhyay, A., N. Etige, G. Gawarkiewicz, A. M. Silver, M. Monim and J. Clark, 2020. A Census of the Warm Core Rings of the Gulf Stream (1980-2017). Journal of Geophysical Research, Oceans, 125, e2019JC016033. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JC016033.", "QGIS Development Team. QGIS Geographic Information System (2016).", "Decker, B. L. World Geodetic System 1984. World geodetic system 1984 (1986)."]}"]} 
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  2. Porter, Nicholas; Gangopadhyay, Avijit (Ed.)
    This dataset consists of weekly trajectory information of Gulf Stream Warm Core Rings (WCR) that existed between 2021 and 2023. This work builds upon two previous datasets: (i) Warm Core Ring trajectory information from 2000 to 2010 -- Porter et al. (2022) (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7406675) (ii) Warm Core Ring trajectory information from 2011 to 2020 -- Silver et al. (2022a) (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6436380). Combining these three datasets (previous two and this one), a total of 24 years of weekly Warm Core Ring trajectories are now available. An example of how to use such a dataset can be found in Silver et al. (2022b). The format of the dataset is similar to that of Porter et al. (2022) and Silver et al. (2022a), and the following description is adapted from those datasets. This dataset is comprised of individual files containing each ring’s weekly center location and its surface area for 81 WCRs that existed and tracked between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2023 (5 WCRs formed in 2020 and still existed in 2021; 28 formed in 2021; 30 formed in 2022; 18 formed in 2023). Each Warm Core Ring is identified by a unique alphanumeric code 'WEyyyymmddX', where 'WE' represents a Warm Eddy (as identified in the analysis charts); 'yyyymmdd' is the year, month and day of formation; and the last character 'X' represents the sequential sighting (formation) of the eddy in that particular year. Continuity of a ring which passes from one year to the next is maintained by the same character in the previous year and absorbed by the initial alphabets for the next year. For example, the first ring formed in 2022 has a trailing alphabet of 'H', which signifies that a total of seven rings were carried over from 2021 which were still present on January 1, 2022 and were assigned the initial seven alphabets (A, B, C, D, E, F and G). Each ring has its own netCDF (.nc) filename following its alphanumeric code. Each file contains 4 variables every week, “Lon”- the ring center’s longitude, “Lat”- the ring center’s latitude, “Area” - the rings size in km^2, and “Date” in days – which is the number of days since Jan 01, 0000. Five rings formed in the year 2020 that carried over into the year 2021 were included in this dataset. These rings include ‘WE20200724Q’, ‘WE20200826R’, ‘WE20200911S’, ‘WE20200930T’, and ‘WE20201111W’. The two rings that formed in 2023, and were carried over into the following year were included with their full trajectories going into the year 2024. These rings include ‘WE20231006U’ and ‘WE20231211W’. The process of creating the WCR tracking dataset follows the same methodology of the previously generated WCR census (Gangopadhyay et al., 2019, 2020). The Jenifer Clark’s Gulf Stream Charts (Gangopadhyay et al., 2019) used to create this dataset are 2-3 times a week from 2021-2023. Thus, we used approximately 360+ Charts for the 3 years of analysis. All of these charts were reanalyzed between -75° and -55°W using QGIS 2.18.16 (2016) and geo-referenced on a WGS84 coordinate system (Decker, 1986). 
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  3. This dataset consists of weekly trajectory information of Gulf Stream Cold Eddies (CE) that existed between 2017 and 2023. The format of this Cold Eddy dataset is similar to the Warm Core Ring (WCR) Trajectory data from Porter et al. (2022, 2024) and Silver et al. (2022), and the following description is adapted from those datasets. This dataset is comprised of individual files containing each eddy’s weekly center location and its surface area for 181 CEs that existed and were tracked between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2023 (28 CEs formed in 2017; 24 formed in 2018; 25 formed in 2019; 26 formed in 2020; 35 formed in 2021; 23 formed in 2022; and 20 formed in 2023). Each Cold Eddy is identified by a unique alphanumeric code 'CEyyyymmddX', where 'CE' represents a Cold Eddy (as identified in the analysis charts); 'yyyymmdd' is the year, month and day of formation; and the last character 'X' represents the sequential sighting (formation) of the eddy in that particular year. Continuity of an eddy which passes from one year to the next is maintained by the same character in the previous year and absorbed by the initial alphabets for the next year. For example, the first eddy formed in 2021 has a trailing alphabet of 'J', which signifies that a total of nine eddies were carried over from 2020 which were still present on January 1, 2021 and were assigned the initial nine alphabets (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, and I). Each eddy trajectory has its own netCDF (.nc) filename following its alphanumeric code. Each file contains 4 variables every week, “Lon”- the eddy center’s longitude, “Lat”- the eddy center’s latitude, “Area” - the eddies size in km^2, and “Date” in days – which is the number of days since Jan 01, 0000. Note that in this dataset, which ended tracking all eddies up to 2023, there were six eddies that formed in 2023, and were carried over into 2024 were included with their full trajectories going into the year 2024. These eddies are: ‘CE20230515P’, ‘CE20230818U’, 'CE20230925V', 'CE20231030Y', 'CE20231103Z', and 'CE20231106a'. Findings from Jensen et al. (2024) suggest three different cyclonic eddy formation types: pinch-off cyclonic rings, hook-type cyclonic eddies, and Sargasso Sea cyclonic eddies. Pinch-off cyclonic rings form from a Gulf Stream meander trough amplifying, then encircling Slope Sea water and eventually detaching from the Gulf Stream as a cyclonic cold-core ring in the Sargasso Sea. Hook-type eddies form from a southward extending filament of the southern flank of the Gulf Stream establishing as a hook-like entity cyclonically encircling a body of Sargasso Sea water at its core. Sargasso Sea cyclonic eddies are isolated from the Gulf Stream and occur in the Sargasso Sea. A separate file is also created to help identify the cold eddy's formation type. Two files are provided here. These are: (1)  The trajectories of all Gulf Stream Cold Eddies formed from 2017 to 2023. Filename – CE_2017_2023_ncfiles.zip (2)  Information on the formation type of each Cold Eddy. Filename – CE_FormationTypes_2017to2023.doc The process of creating the CE weekly tracking dataset follows the same GIS-based methodology of the previously generated WCR census (Gangopadhyay et al., 2019, 2020). The Jenifer Clark’s Gulf Stream Charts described in Gangopadhyay et al. (2019), and continued through 2023 were used to create this dataset and were available 2-3 times a week from 2017-2023. Thus, we used approximately 840+ Charts for the 7 years of analysis. All of these charts were reanalyzed between 75°W and 55°W using QGIS 2.18.16 (2016) and geo-referenced on a WGS84 coordinate system (Decker, 1986). A single eddy trajectory is then obtained following an eddy through all of the available charts during the eddy's lifespan on a weekly basis. This process is repeated for every individual eddy.     
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  4. Abstract Gulf Stream Warm Core Rings (WCRs) have important influences on the New England Shelf and marine ecosystems. A 10‐year (2011–2020) WCR dataset that tracks weekly WCR locations and surface areas is used here to identify the rings' path and characterize their movement between 55 and 75°W. The WCR dataset reveals a very narrow band between 66 and 71°W along which rings travel almost due west along ∼39°N across isobaths – the “Ring Corridor.” Then, west of the corridor, the mean path turns southwestward, paralleling the shelfbreak. The average ring translation speed along the mean path is 5.9 cm s−1. Long‐lived rings (lifespan >150 days) tend to occupy the region west of the New England Seamount Chain (NESC) whereas short‐lived rings (lifespan <150 days) tend to be more broadly distributed. WCR vertical structures, analyzed using available Argo float profiles indicate that rings that are formed to the west of the NESC have shallower thermoclines than those formed to the east. This tendency may be due to different WCR formation processes that are observed to occur along different sections of the Gulf Stream. WCRs formed to the east of the NESC tend to form from a pinch‐off mechanism incorporating cores of Sargasso Sea water and a perimeter of Gulf Stream water. WCRs that form to the west of the NESC, form from a process called an aneurysm. WCRs formed through aneurysms comprise water mostly from the northern half of the Gulf Stream and are smaller than the classic pinch‐off rings. 
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  5. Abstract We present observational evidence that a significant regime change occurred around the year 2000 in the formation of Warm Core Rings (WCRs) from the Gulf Stream (GS) between 75° and 55°W. The dataset for this study is a set of synoptic oceanographic charts available over the thirty-eight-year period of 1980–2017. The upward regime change shows an increase to 33 WCRs per year during 2000–2017 from an average of 18 WCRs during 1980 to 1999. A seasonal analysis confirms May-June-July as the peak time for WCR births in agreement with earlier studies. The westernmost region (75°-70°W) is least ring-productive, while the region from 65°W to 60°W is most productive. This regime shift around 2000 is detected in WCR formation for all of the four 5-degree wide sub-regions and the whole region (75°-55°W). This might be related to a reduction of the deformation radius for ring formation, allowing unstable meanders to shed more frequent rings in recent years. A number of possible factors resulting in such a regime shift related to the possible changes in reduced gravity, instability, transport of the GS, large-scale changes in the wind system and atmospheric fluxes are outlined, which suggest new research directions. The increase in WCRs has likely had an impact on the marine ecosystem since 2000, a topic worthy for future studies. 
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