Ocean mesoscale processes play a significant role in the energy cycle of the ocean as both a reservoir of energy and a mechanism for energy exchange. This includes energy exchanges between the ocean and atmosphere, across spatial scales, and between reservoirs of potential and kinetic energy within the ocean. The eddy energy cycle has a significant impact on the transport of momentum, heat, carbon, and nutrients throughout the ocean.

In this session, we invite contributions from observational, theoretical, and modeling studies on the role of mesoscale processes in the ocean energy cycle. Specifically, we are interested in

(i) Novel diagnostics of eddy sources, sinks and fluxes of momentum, buoyancy, and energy;  

(ii) Understanding of mesoscale eddy energy and its role in the ocean circulation, and the transport of physical and biogeochemical tracers;

(iii) Parameterizations of eddy momentum and buoyancy fluxes in numerical models and their link to the energy budget.