Statistics of simulated and observed pair separations in the Gulf of Mexico

Pair-separation statistics of in-situ and synthetic surface drifters deployed near the \emph{Deepwater Horizon} site in the Gulf of Mexico are investigated. The synthetic trajectories derive from a 1-km-resolution data-assimilative Navy Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM) simulation. The in-situ drifters were launched in the Grand LAgrangian Deployment (GLAD). Diverse measures of the dispersion are calculated and compared to theoretical predictions. For the NCOM pairs, the measures indicate nonlocal pair dispersion at the smallest sampled scales. At separations exceeding 100 km, pair motion is uncorrelated, indicating absolute rather than relative dispersion. With the GLAD drifters however the statistics suggest local dispersion (in which pair separations exhibit power law growth), in line with previous findings. The disagreement stems in part from inertial oscillations, which affect the energy levels at small scales without greatly altering the net particle displacements. They were significant in GLAD but much weaker in the NCOM simulations. In addition the GLAD drifters were launched close together, producing few independent realizations and hence weaker statistical significance. Restricting the NCOM set to those launched at the same locations yields very similar statistics.

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