| Data from ship surveys, satellite tracked drifting buoys, and seven years of satellite altimetry, a simple dynamical feature model, and satellite derived winds are used in an integrated study of the dynamics of anticyclonic eddies that spin-up in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean off the coast of Central America. The space and time scales of the wind forcing required for the formation of the anticyclonic eddies and the evolution of the eddies as they propagate westward are not well-understood.; Sea surface height (SSH) anomalies from the Geosat, TOPEX/Poseidon, and ERS-1 satellite altimeters are used to track these anticyclonic eddies from spin-up to decay as they propagate west-southwestward. The propagation speed is typically over 11 cm s{dollar}sp{lcub}-1{rcub},{dollar} and the circular shape zonally elongates with time. The maximum average swirl speed is 100 cm s{dollar}sp{lcub}-1{rcub},{dollar} the lifespan is just under 6 months, the average SSH amplitude is around 20 cm, and an average 5.3 eddies are formed each year. The altimetric signal correlates well with the ship and the drifter data that is spatially and temporally coincident.; Estimates from the drifter data indicate an average swirl speed of just under 70 cm s{dollar}sp{lcub}-1{rcub},{dollar} a high Rossby number of 0.22, and a drift speed of 12.7 cm s{dollar}sp{lcub}-1{rcub}.{dollar} The hydrographic data show warm, slightly fresh eddy cores with a central thickness of 150 m. Downward mixing is evident in the oxygen samples on the western and southern sides of the eddy which is shown to be due to vertical instabilities. The simple eddy model, initialized with the surveyed conductivity, temperature, and depth (CTD) data, enables an estimation of translation speed, energetics, vertical instability, vorticity levels, and non-linearity.; Finally, the wind product is used to identify the intense wind events that are coincident with the eddy formation observed in the altimetry. The spin-up mechanism of these eddies is primarily the northeasterly wind bursts that flow through the gaps in Sierra Madre Mountain range on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. There is an identifiable wind burst in the wind product for every eddy that is observed in the altimetric data. |
