A laboratory study of floating lenticular anticyclones

Oceanic vortices play an important role in the redistribution of heat, salt and momentum in the oceans. Among these vortices, floating lenses or rings are often met in the meanders of warm currents. For instance the North Brazil Current rings are among the most intense and large anticyclonic vortices on Earth. In order to better describe these vortices, we propose here a laboratory study of these floating anticyclonic lenses. A blob of fresh water is slowly injected near the surface of a rotating layer of homogeneous salted water. Because of the opposite effects of rotation that tends to generate columnar structures and density stratification that spreads light water on the surface, the vortices take a finite size three dimensionnal typical shape. Visualization and PIV measurements of the shape, aspect ratios and vorticity profiles are compared to analytical predictions that use first a simple solid body rotation model and then a more realistic isolated Gaussian vorticity field inside the anticyclones.