Lermusiaux, P.F.J., P.J. Haley, Jr., and C. Mirabito, 2025. Lagrangian Flow Map Analysis of Ocean Dynamics and Material Transports. In: OCEANS '25 IEEE/MTS Great Lakes, 29 September–2 October 2025, in press.
In this paper, we illustrate the use of our partial differential equations for flow maps to quantify Lagrangian transports and non-advective dynamics in geophysical fluid flows. Our emphasis is on the use of spatiotemporal flow maps to help differentiate the advective transports from non-advective transformations of water masses and ocean features in four dimensions. Preliminary results are presented for real-time sea experiments with autonomous sensing platforms and advanced modeling systems in diverse ocean regions and dynamical regimes. They include the Nova Scotia Shelf-Slope and New England Seamount Chain regions, Gulf of Mexico, and Balearic and Alboran Seas in the western Mediterranean. Our differentiations directly highlight regions of higher shear and mixing, including the edges of meanders, eddies, filaments, and internal waves, and the regions undergoing strong vertical or spiral motions.