Randomness, Symmetry, and Scaling of Mesoscale Eddy Life Cycles

It is shown that the life cycles of nonlinear mesoscale eddies, a major component of low-frequency ocean physical variability, have a characteristic structure that differs fundamentally from that which would be expected on the basis of classical interpretations of ocean eddy evolution in terms of mean flow instability and equilibration followed by frictional, radiative, or barotropic decay, or of vortex merger dynamics in quasigeostrophic...