We identify effective carriers of Sargassum in the Caribbean Sea and describe a mechanism for coastal choking. Revealed from satellite
altimetry, the carriers of Sargassum are mesoscale eddies (vortices of 50-km radius or larger) with coherent material (i.e., fluid) boundaries. These are observer-independent---unlike eddy boundaries identified with instantaneously closed streamlines of the altimetric sea-surface height field---and furthermore harbor finite-time attractors for networks of elastically connected finite-size buoyant or ``inertial'' particles dragged by ocean currents and winds, a mathematical abstraction of Sargassum rafts. The mechanism of coastal inundation, identified using a minimal model of surface-intensified Caribbean Sea eddies, is thermal instability in the presence of bottom topography.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://univienna.zoom.us/j/66306947737?pwd=akVOT2pVQXNXWFhHZHBnTjVWWUIzZz09
Meeting ID: 663 0694 7737
Passcode: hkmQPT