In oceanography, a gyre () is a large system of ocean surface currents moving in a circular fashion driven by wind movements. Gyres are caused by the Coriolis effect; planetary vorticity, horizontal friction and vertical friction determine the circulatory patterns from the wind stress curl (torque).Heinemann, B. and the Open University (1998) Ocean circulation, Oxford University Press: Page 98 Gyre can refer to any type of vortex in an atmosphere or a sea, even one that is human-created, but it is most commonly used in terrestrial oceanography to refer to the major ocean system.
Formation The largest ocean gyres are wind-driven, meaning that their locations and dynamics are controlled by the prevailing global wind patterns: easterlies at the tropics and westerlies at the midlatitudes. These wind patterns result in a wind stress curl that drives Ekman pumping in the subtropics (resulting in downwelling) and Ekman suction in subpolar regions (resulting in upwelling). Ekman pumping results in an increased sea surface height at the center of the gyre and anticyclonic geostrophic currents in subtropical gyres. Ekman suction results in a depressed sea surface height and cyclonic geostrophic currents in subpolar gyres.
Gyres are asymmetrical, with stronger flows on their western boundary and weaker flows throughout their interior. The weak interior flow that is typical over most of the gyre is a result of the conservation of potential vorticity. In the shallow water equations (applicable for basin-scale flow as the horizontal length scale is much greater than the vertical length scale), potential vorticity is a function of relative (local) vorticity (zeta), planetary vorticity , and the depth , and is conserved with respect to the material derivative:
In the case of the subtropical ocean gyre, Ekman pumping results in water piling up in the center of the gyre, compressing water parcels. This results in a decrease in , so by the conservation of potential vorticity the numerator must also decrease. It can be further simplified by realizing that, in basin-scale ocean gyres, the relative vorticity is small, meaning that local changes in vorticity cannot account for the decrease in . Thus, the planetary vorticity must change accordingly. The only way to decrease the planetary vorticity is by moving the water parcel equatorward, so throughout the majority of subtropical gyres there is a weak equatorward flow. Harald Sverdrup quantified this phenomenon in his 1947 paper, "Wind Driven Currents in a Baroclinic Ocean", in which the (depth-integrated) Sverdrup balance is defined as:
Here, is the meridional mass transport (positive north), is the Rossby parameter, is the water density, and is the vertical Ekman velocity due to wind stress curl (positive up). For a negative Ekman velocity (e.g., Ekman pumping in subtropical gyres), meridional mass transport (Sverdrup transport) is negative (south, equatorward) in the northern hemisphere (). Conversely, for a positive Ekman velocity (e.g., Ekman suction in subpolar gyres), Sverdrup transport is positive (north, poleward) in the northern hemisphere.
Western intensification
As the Sverdrup balance argues, subtropical ocean gyres have a weak equatorward flow, and subpolar ocean gyres have a weak poleward flow over most of their area. However, there must be some return flow that goes against the Sverdrup transport in order to preserve mass balance. In this respect, the Sverdrup solution is incomplete, as it has no mechanism in which to predict this return flow. Contributions by both Henry Stommel and Walter Munk resolved this issue by showing that the return flow of gyres is done through an intensified western boundary current. Stommel's solution relies on a frictional bottom boundary layer which is not necessarily physical in a stratified ocean (currents do not always extend to the bottom).
Munk's solution instead relies on friction between the return flow and the sidewall of the basin. This allows for two cases: one with the return flow on the western boundary (western boundary current) and one with the return flow on the eastern boundary (eastern boundary current). A qualitative argument for the presence of western boundary current solutions over eastern boundary current solutions can be found through the conservation of potential vorticity. Considering again the case of a subtropical northern hemisphere gyre, the return flow must be northward. In order to move northward (an increase in ), there must be a source of positive relative vorticity to the system. The relative vorticity in the shallow-water system is:
Here is again the meridional velocity and is the zonal velocity. In the sense of a northward return flow, the zonal component is neglected and only the meridional velocity is important for relative vorticity. Thus, this solution requires that in order to increase the relative vorticity and have a valid northward return flow in the northern hemisphere subtropical gyre.
Due to friction at the boundary, the velocity of flow must go to zero at the sidewall before reaching some maximum northward velocity within the boundary layer and decaying to the southward Sverdrup transport solution far away from the boundary. Thus, the condition that can only be satisfied through a western boundary frictional layer, as the eastern boundary frictional layer forces . Similar arguments made for subtropical gyres in the southern hemisphere and for subpolar gyres in either hemisphere and return the same result: the return flow of an ocean gyre is always in the form of a western boundary current.
The western boundary current must transport on the same order of water as the interior Sverdrup transport in a much smaller area. This means western boundary currents are much stronger than interior currents, a phenomenon called "western intensification".
Distribution
Subtropical gyres
There are five major subtropical gyres across the world's oceans: the North Atlantic Gyre, the South Atlantic Gyre, the Indian Ocean Gyre, the North Pacific Gyre, and the South Pacific Gyre. All subtropical gyres are anticyclonic, meaning that in the northern hemisphere they rotate clockwise, while the gyres in the southern hemisphere rotate counterclockwise. This is due to the Coriolis force. Subtropical gyres typically consist of four currents: a westward flowing equatorial current, a poleward flowing, narrow, and strong western boundary current, an eastward flowing current in the midlatitudes, and an equatorward flowing, weaker, and broader eastern boundary current.
North Atlantic Gyre The North Atlantic Gyre is located in the northern hemisphere in the Atlantic Ocean, between the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) in the south and Iceland in the north. The North Equatorial Current brings warm waters west towards the Caribbean and defines the southern edge of the North Atlantic Gyre. Once these waters reach the Caribbean they join the warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico and form the Gulf Stream, a western boundary current. This current then heads north and east towards Europe, forming the North Atlantic Current. The Canary Current flows south along the western coast of Europe and north Africa, completing the gyre circulation. The center of the gyre is the Sargasso Sea, which is characterized by the dense accumulation of Sargassum seaweed.
South Atlantic Gyre The South Atlantic Gyre is located in the southern hemisphere in the Atlantic Ocean, between the ITCZ in the north and the Antarctic Circumpolar Current to the south. The South Equatorial Current brings water west towards South America, forming the northern boundary of the South Atlantic gyre. The water moves south in the Brazil Current, the western boundary current of the South Atlantic Gyre. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current forms both the southern boundary of the gyre and the eastward component of the gyre circulation. Eventually, the water reaches the west coast of Africa, where it is brought north along the coast as a part of the eastern boundary Benguela Current, completing the gyre circulation. The Benguela Current experiences the Benguela Niño event, an Atlantic Ocean analogue to the Pacific Ocean's El Niño, and is correlated with a reduction in primary productivity in the Benguela upwelling zone.
Indian Ocean Gyre The Indian Ocean Gyre, located in the Indian Ocean, is bordered by the ITCZ in the north and the Antarctic Circumpolar Current to the south. The South Equatorial Current forms the northern boundary of the Indian Ocean Gyre as it flows west along the equator towards the east coast of Africa. At the coast of Africa, the South Equatorial Current is split by Madagascar into the Mozambique Current, flowing south through the Mozambique Channel, and the East Madagascar Current, flowing south along the east coast of Madagascar, both of which are western boundary currents. South of Madagascar the two currents join to form the Agulhas Current. The Agulhas Current flows south until it joins the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, which flows east at the southern edge of the Indian Ocean Gyre. Because the African continent does not extend as far south as the Indian Ocean Gyre, some of the water in the Agulhas Current "leaks" into the Atlantic Ocean, with potentially important effects for global thermohaline circulation. The gyre circulation is completed by the north flowing West Australian Current, which forms the eastern boundary of the gyre.
North Pacific Gyre The North Pacific Gyre, one of the largest ecosystems on Earth, is bordered to the south by the ITCZ and extends north to roughly 50°N. At its southern boundary, the North Equatorial Current flows west along the equator towards southeast Asia. The Kuroshio Current is the western boundary current of the North Pacific Gyre, flowing northeast along the coast of Japan. At roughly 50°N, the flow turns east and becomes the North Pacific Current. The North Pacific Current flows east, eventually bifurcating near the west coast of North America into the northward flowing Alaska Current and the southward flowing California Current. The Alaska Current is the eastern boundary current of the subpolar Alaska Gyre, while the California Current is the eastern boundary current that completes the North Pacific Gyre circulation. Within the North Pacific Gyre is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an area of increased plastic waste concentration.
South Pacific Gyre The South Pacific Gyre, like its northern counterpart, is one of the largest ecosystems on Earth with an area that accounts for around 10% of the global ocean surface area. Within this massive area is Point Nemo, the location on Earth that is farthest away from all continental landmass (2,688 km away from the closest land). The remoteness of this gyre complicates sampling, causing this gyre to be historically under sampled in oceanographic datasets. At its northern boundary, the South Equatorial Current flows west towards southeast Asia and Australia. There, it turns south as it flows in the East Australian Current, a western boundary current. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current again returns the water to the east. The flow turns north along the western coast of South America in the Humboldt Current, the eastern boundary current. The South Pacific Gyre has an elevated concentration of plastic waste near the center, termed the South Pacific garbage patch. Unlike the North Pacific garbage patch which was first described in 1988, the South Pacific garbage patch was discovered much more recently in 2016 (a testament to its remoteness).
Subpolar gyres