Summary

This repository contains supplementary videos to the publication Transient Attracting Profiles in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (Kunz et al., 2024, preprint). TRansient Attracting Profiles (TRAPs, Serra et al. (2020), Serra and Haller (2016)) have been computed using the TRAPs detection software by Mattia Serra (2020). Raw TRAPs were further post-processed, tracked and analysed using software by Luca Kunz (2024). The videos provided here display:

1. SV1_TRAPS_TRAJECTORIES.mp4: Coloured lines represent the trajectories of propagating TRAPs, colours indicate the estimated total lifetime of a TRAP. Ephemeral TRAPs appear as flickering points.
2. SV2_TRAPS_VORTICITY_DRIFTERS.mp4: Black lines indicate TRAPs upon a colourmap of the relative voriticity field ζ. Filled and empty black circles represent the 24-hourly positions of drogued and undrogued GDP drifters. The video shows the simultaneous motion of TRAPs, drifters and the relative vorticity field.
3. SV3_TRAPS_VORTICITY_EDDIES.mp4: Black lines indicate TRAPs upon a colourmap of the relative voriticity field ζ. Blue lines indicate the speed contour of cyclonic, pink lines the speed contour of anticyclonic mesoscale eddy detections. The video shows the simultaneous propagation of TRAPs, mesoscale eddy detections and the relative vorticity field.

For related datasets, see: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10993736

Source data

Raw TRAPs and relative vorticity are derived from daily snapshots of near-surface geostrophic + Ekman currents from the product Global Total Surface and 15m Current (COPERNICUS-GLOBCURRENT) from Altimetric Geostrophic Current and Modeled Ekman Current Reprocessing that is provided by the E.U. Copernicus Marine Service (CMEMS, 2022a). Surface drifter positions have been consulted from the Global Drifter Program (Lumpkin and Centurioni, 2019). Mesoscale eddy detections have been consulted from the Mesoscale Eddy Trajectory Atlas (META3.2 DT) which is produced by SSALTO/DUACS and distributed by AVISO+ with support from CNES, in collaboration with IMEDEA (AVISO+, 2022).

Acknowledgements

This work is a contribution to the project L3 Meso- to submesoscale turbulence in the ocean of the Collaborative Research Centre TRR 181 Energy Transfer in Atmosphere and Ocean funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and has been conducted in collaboration with The Ocean Cleanup.

Please cite

When using the videos, please cite

Kunz, L., Griesel, A., Eden, C., Duran, R., and Sainte-Rose, B.: Transient Attracting Profiles in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, Ocean Sci., 20, 1611–1630, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-20-1611-2024, 2024. 

and provide a link to the repository.