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<p>Ocean eddies play crucial roles in climate and marine ecosystems. Still, small mesoscale eddies in the climate-sensitive and biologically unique Arctic Ocean remain poorly characterized and understood due to the coarse resolution of traditional gridded altimetry products and sparse in-situ observations. Here, we show that the Surface Water and Ocean Topography satellite mission overcomes these limitations through unprecedented two-dimensional high-resolution measurements of sea level anomalies. We demonstrate this wide-swath satellite altimetry’s capability to quantify previously unresolved eddy properties, revealing three persistent hotspots of mesoscale eddies in the southern Beaufort Sea that actively transport low-salinity, heat-retaining, and nutrient-enriched waters from the continental shelf to the interior basin. The observed eddies demonstrate their critical role in shelf-basin exchange while revealing biases in current high-resolution models. These findings advance our understanding of Arctic mesoscale processes and provide essential benchmarks for improving ocean models for this rapidly changing environment.</p>

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Wide-swath satellite altimetry reveals hotspots of small mesoscale eddies in the western Arctic Ocean

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年4月13日

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  • Chuanshuai Fu,
  • Xianxian Han,
  • Qiang Wang,
  • Clark Pennelly,
  • Paul G. Myers

摘要

Ocean eddies play crucial roles in climate and marine ecosystems. Still, small mesoscale eddies in the climate-sensitive and biologically unique Arctic Ocean remain poorly characterized and understood due to the coarse resolution of traditional gridded altimetry products and sparse in-situ observations. Here, we show that the Surface Water and Ocean Topography satellite mission overcomes these limitations through unprecedented two-dimensional high-resolution measurements of sea level anomalies. We demonstrate this wide-swath satellite altimetry’s capability to quantify previously unresolved eddy properties, revealing three persistent hotspots of mesoscale eddies in the southern Beaufort Sea that actively transport low-salinity, heat-retaining, and nutrient-enriched waters from the continental shelf to the interior basin. The observed eddies demonstrate their critical role in shelf-basin exchange while revealing biases in current high-resolution models. These findings advance our understanding of Arctic mesoscale processes and provide essential benchmarks for improving ocean models for this rapidly changing environment.