Eddy Kinetic Energy

Eddy kinetic energy (EKE) is the kinetic energy per unit mass in the time-varying, mostly mesoscale part of the flow, EKE = (u’^2 + v’^2)/2 after removing the mean. Satellite altimetry maps it from sea-surface-height variability; values exceed 0.1 square meters per second squared in western boundary currents and the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, far above the quiet interior. EKE is generated mainly by baroclinic instability converting available potential energy from the large-scale density field, and it dominates the ocean’s total kinetic energy, exceeding the mean-flow energy several times over.