Publications

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Publications

Links to my Google Scholar profile, ORCID registry, and Mendeley profile.

Some recent gray literature:

  • Elipot, S., K. Drushka, A. Subramanian, and M. Patterson (2022), Overcoming the challenges of ocean data uncertainty, Eos, 103, doi:10.1029/2022EO220021. Published on 12 January 2022.

  • Elipot, S. and Wenegrat, J., Vertical structure of near-surface currents – Importance, state of knowledge, and measurement challenges, in Drushka, K., & Bourassa, M. (Eds.). (2021), New frontiers for ocean surface currents. Variations, 19, 44 pp, doi:10.5065/ybca-0s03.

  • Nielsen-Gammon, J., K. A. Reed, S. Elipot, and M. Patterson (2021), Research Challenge on Climate at the Coasts: US CLIVAR Report, 2021-2, 20pp, doi:10.5065/0g4s-5w68.

  • Elipot, S., Centurioni, L., Haines, B. J., Lumpkin, R., Willis, J. K. (2021) Measuring Global-Mean Sea-Level Rise With Surface Drifting Buoys, Marine Technology Society Journal, Volume 55, Number 3, May/June 2021, pp. 66-67(2), doi:10.4031/MTSJ.55.3.12.

Submitted:

35. Edward D. Zaron and Shane Elipot, Estimates of Baroclinic Tidal Sea Level and Currents from Lagrangian Drifters and Satellite Altimetry, manuscript submitted to the AMS Journal of Physical Oceanography, June 2023.

Published:

34. W. E. Johns, S. Elipot, D. A. Smeed, B. Moat, B. King, D. L. Volkov, R. H. Smith (2023) Towards Two Decades of Atlantic Ocean Mass and Heat Transports at 26.5N, Philosophycal Transactions of the Royal Society A 381:20220188. 20220188. http://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2022.0188.

33. Brian K. Arbic, Shane Elipot, Jonathan M. Brasch, Dimitris Menemenlis, Aurelien L. Ponte, Jay F. Shriver, Xiaolong Yu, Edward D. Zaron, Matthew H. Alford, Maarten C. Buijsman, Ryan Abernathey, Paige E. Martin, Arin D. Nelson, (2022), Near-surface oceanic kinetic energy distributions from drifter observations and numerical models, Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 127, e2022JC018551. doi:10.1029/2022JC018551.

  • In this paper we compare the oceanic kinetic energy as captured by the hourly drifter dataset of the NOAA Global Drifter Program to the outputs of two global numerical model runs (HYCOM and MITgcm LLC4320) that simulate both the general oceanic circulations and the tides. The comparisons are made both at the surface and at 15m depth, by separating motions by timescales, or frequency.

32. Elipot, S., A. Sykulski, R. Lumpkin, L. Centurioni, and M. Pazos (2022), A Dataset of Hourly Sea Surface Temperature From Drifting Buoys, Scientific Data, 9, 567, doi:10.1038/s41597-022-01670-2.

  • This paper is a Data Descriptor publication which means that it provides detailed descriptions of research datasets, including the methods used to collect the data and technical analyses supporting the quality of the measurements. We are very excited to finally share this new dataset of SST estimates from surface drifter data.

31. Kathryn L. Gunn, K. McMonigal, Lisa M. Beal, Shane Elipot (2022), Decadal and Intra-annual Variability of the Indian Ocean Freshwater Budget, Journal of Physical Oceanography, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-22-0057.1.

30. Miron, Philippe, Elipot, Shane, Lumpkin, Rick, & Dano, Bertrand. (2022). Accelerating Lagrangian analyses of oceanic data: benchmarking typical workflows (ec2022v4). Zenodo. doi:10.5281/zenodo.6781037.

29. McMonigal, K., Kathy Gunn, Lisa Beal, Shane Elipot, and Josh K. Willis (2021), Reduction in meridional heat export contributes to recent Indian Ocean warming, Journal of Physical Oceanography, 50(12), doi:10.1175/JPO-D-21-0085.1.

28. Jonathan M. Lilly and Elipot, S. (2021), A Unifying Perspective on Transfer Function Solutions to the Unsteady Ekman Problem, Fluids, 6(2), 85, doi:10.3390/fluids6020085.

  • This paper is a revisit of some theoretical aspects of my PhD work, expanding and unifying previous studies including some of the material presented in Elipot and Gille (2009a).

27. Erik van Sebille, Erik Zettler, Nicolas Wienders, Linda Amaral-Zettler, Shane Elipot, and Rick Lumpkin (2021), Dispersion of surface drifters in the Tropical Atlantic, Frontiers in Marine Science, 7, doi:10.3389/fmars.2020.607426.

26. Edward Zaron and Elipot, S. (2021), An Assessment of Global Ocean Barotropic Tide Models Using Geodetic Mission Altimetry and Surface Drifters, Journal of Physical Oceanography, 51(1), doi:10.1175/JPO-D-20-0089.1.

25. Elipot, S. (2020), Measuring global mean sea level changes with surface drifting buoys, Geophysical Research Letters, 47, e2020GL091078, doi:10.1029/2020GL091078.

  • This paper was the focus of a Research Spotlight in AGU’s Eos : Thompson, E. (2020), A floating buoy fleet could help scientists track rising seas, Eos, 101, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020EO151862.

24. Kathryn L. Gunn, Lisa M. Beal, Shane Elipot, K. McMonigal, and Adam Houk (2020), Mixing of Subtropical, Central and Intermediate Waters Driven by Shifting and Pulsing of the Agulhas Current, Journal of Physical Oceanography, 50(12), doi:10.1175/JPO-D-20-0093.1.

23. K. McMonigal, Lisa M. Beal, Shane Elipot, Kathryn L. Gunn, Juliet Hermes, Tamaryn Morris, and Adam Houk (2020), The Impact of Meanders, Deepening and Broadening, and Seasonality on Agulhas Current Temperature Variability, Journal of Physical Oceanography, 50(12), doi:10.1175/JPO-D-20-0018.1

22. Xiaolong Yu, Aurélien L. Ponte, Shane Elipot, Dimitris Menemenlis, Edward D. Zaron, Ryan Abernathey (2019), Surface kinetic energy distributions in the global oceans from a high-resolution numerical model and surface drifter observations, Geophys. Res. Lett., 46(16), doi:10.1029/2019GL083074

21. Frajka-Williams, E. […], Elipot, S., […] (2019), Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation: Observed Transport and Variability, Front. Mar. Sci., 6:260. doi:10.3389/fmars.2019.00260

  • This is an open-access OceanObs19 community white paper. What is the Atlantic MOC and how is it observed? In this paper led by Eleanor Frajka-Williams, we outline the different approaches used to observe the AMOC and summarize the key results to date. We also discuss alternate approaches for capturing AMOC variability including direct estimates (e.g., using sea level, bottom pressure, and hydrography from autonomous profiling floats), indirect estimates applying budgetary approaches, state estimates or ocean reanalyses, and proxies. Based on the existing observations and their results, and the potential of new observational and formal synthesis approaches, we make suggestions as to how to evaluate a comprehensive, future-proof observational network of the AMOC to deepen our understanding of the AMOC.

20. Howe, B. M., […], Elipot, S., […] (2019), SMART Cables for Observing the Global Ocean: Science and Implementation, Front. Mar. Sci., 6:424, doi:10.3389/fmars.2019.00424

  • This is an open-access OceanObs19 community white paper. Did you know that the majority of internet traffic takes place on a multitude of undersea communication cables that crisscross the ocean seafloor? In this paper led by Bruce M. Howe we describe the mission of the SMART subsea cables initiative (Science Monitoring And Reliable Telecommunications). SMART sensors would “piggyback” on the power and communications infrastructure of a million kilometers of undersea fiber optic cable and thousands of repeaters, creating the potential for seafloor-based global ocean observing at a modest incremental cost.

19. Vermeulen, E., B. Backeberg, J. Hermes, and S. Elipot (2019), Investigating the relationship between volume transport and sea surface height in a numerical ocean model, Ocean Sci., 15, 513-526, doi:10.5194/os-15-513-2019

18. L’Hégaret, P., L. M. Beal, S. Elipot, and L. C. Laurindo (2018), Shallow cross-equatorial gyres of the Indian Ocean driven by seasonally reversing monsoon winds, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 123, doi:10.1029/2018JC014553

17. Elipot, S., and L. M. Beal (2018), Observed Agulhas Current sensitivity to interannual and long-term trend atmospheric forcings, J. Clim., 31, 3077-3098, doi: 10.1175/JCLI-D-17-0597.1.

This paper has been selected as a research highlight for Nature Climate Change: G. Simpkins (2018), Nature Climate Change 8, 188, doi:10.1038/s41558-018-0111-3.

  • This paper studies the atmosphere-driven interannual variability of the Agulhas jet transport based on the altimeter proxy derived in Beal and Elipot (2016). We find that 29% of the interannual variance of the Agulhas Current transport can be linearly related to six modes of Southern Hemisphere atmospheric variability, including ENSO and a SAM-related mode. The Agulhas transport proxy time series can be downloaded via the ACT website here.

16. Elipot, S., E. Frajka-Williams, C. W. Hughes, S. Olhede, and M. Lankhorst (2017), Observed basin-scale response of the North Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation to wind stress forcing, J. Clim., 30, 2029-2054, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0664.1. (Open access; if you download the PDF file, figures of this paper are best rendered in Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader).

  • This paper explores the spatiotemporal covariance and forcing mechanisms of observed variability in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. We developed a novel statistical method (analytic SVD) to investigate the relation between overturning transports from four arrays in the North Atlantic (RAPID WAVE, LINE W, RAPID MOC/MOCHA and MOVE) and patterns of wind stress and its curl over the basin. We identify two significant modes of variability in the overturning circulation driven by surface winds. The first mode manifests on seasonal time scales and is interpreted in terms of Ekman transports and barotropic return flows. The second mode is evident on nonseasonal time scales and is interpreted in terms of horizontal gyre circulation anomalies, which couple to the variable bottom topography to yield overturning circulation changes.

15. Beal, L. M., and S. Elipot (2016), Broadening not strengthening of the Agulhas Current since the early 1990s, Nature, 540, 570573, doi:10.1038/nature19853.

  • In this paper we show that, despite expectations, the Agulhas Current has not intensified since the early 1990s. Instead, we find that it has broadened as a result of more eddy activity.

14. Leber, G. M., L. M. Beal, and S. Elipot (2016), Wind and current forcing combine to drive strong upwelling in the Agulhas Current, J. Phys. Oceanogr., 47, 123-134, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-16-0079.1.

  • In this paper, we investigate upwelling events inshore of the Agulhas Current at 34S. These events exchange shelf and slope waters, potentially enhancing primary productivity along the shelf and advecting larvae offshore. Hydrographic observations of a wind-driven upwelling event nd a current-driven upwelling event show that they can advect central waters more than 130 m upward onto the continental shelf, resulting in a 9C cooling. We use satellite data to assess the frequency, strength and forcing mechanisms of cold events from January 2003 11 through December 2011.

13. Elipot S., R. Lumpkin, R. C. Perez, J. M. Lilly, J. J. Early, and A. M. Sykulski (2016), A global surface drifter dataset at hourly resolution, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 121, doi:10.1002/2016JC011716.

12. Elipot, S., and L.M. Beal (2015), Characteristics, Energetics, and Origins of Agulhas Current Meanders and their Limited Influence on Ring Shedding, J. Phys. Oceanogr., 45, 2294-2314, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-14-0254.1

  • In this study we investigate in detail the variance of the Agulhas Current velocity field from the ACT array, especially focussing on what is happening during meanders, the so-called Natal Pulses. For this we lay out the details of a method of analysis of rotary variance, dubbed Rotary EOF (REOF). We also combined in-situ data from the ACT array with altimetry data to research the origins, and fate, of meanders.

11. Beal, L. M., S. Elipot, A. Houk, and G. Leber (2015), Capturing the Transport Variability of a Western Boundary Jet: Results from the Agulhas Current Time-series experiment (ACT), J. Phys. Oceanogr., 45, 1302-1324, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-14-0119.1 (Open Access)

  • This paper presents the first results from the velocity moorings deployed as part of the Agulhas Current Time-Series Experiment, or ACT, that took place between 2010 and 2013 in the Indian Ocean. We provide the longest in-situ record to date of the Agulhas Current Jet transport.

10. Elipot, S., E. Frajka-Williams, C. Hughes, and J. Willis (2014), The Observed North Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, its Meridional Coherence and Ocean Bottom Pressure, J. Phys. Oceanogr., 44, 517-537, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-13-026.1 (Open Access)

9. Polton, J., Y.-D. Lenn, S. Elipot, T. K. Chereskin, and J. Sprintall (2013), Can Drake Passage observations match Ekman’s classic theory? J. Phys. Oceanogr., 43, 1733-1740, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-13-034.1 (Open Access)

  • Ekman’s theory of the wind-driven ocean surface boundary layer assumes a constant eddy viscosity and predicts that the current rotates with depth at the same rate as it decays in amplitude. This study presents a method for estimating ageostrophic currents from shipboard acoustic Doppler current profiler data in Drake Passage and finds that observations are consistent with Ekman’s theory.

8. Elipot, S., C. Hughes, S. Olhede, and J. Toole (2013), Coherence of western boundary pressure at the RAPID WAVE array: boundary wave adjustements or deep western boundary current advection?, J. Phys. Oceanogr., 43, 744-765, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-12-067.1 (Open Access)

  • This study investigates the coherence between ocean bottom pressure signals at the Rapid Climate Change programme (RAPID) West Atlantic Variability Experiment (WAVE) array on the western North Atlantic continental slope, including the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Line W. We find several types of coherent signals: barotropic kelvin-like waves that propagates at speeds in excess of \( 128\, m s^{-1} \), and pressure-difference signals propagating at about \( 1\, m s^{-1} \), roughly consistent iwth coastally-trapped waves. These last signals are expected to be associated with depth-dependent basinwide meridional transport variations or an overturning circulation.

7. Hughes, C., S. Elipot, M.A. Morales Maqueda, and J. Loder (2013) Test of a Method for Monitoring the Geostrophic Meridional Overturning Circulation Using Only Boundary Measurements, J. Atmosph. Ocean. Techn., 30,789–809, doi:10.1175/JTECH-D-12-00149.1 (Open Access)

6. Lumpkin, R. and S. Elipot (2010), Surface Drifter Pair Spreading in the North Atlantic, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 115, C12017, doi:10.1029/2010JC006338.

5. Elipot, S., R. Lumpkin, and G. A. Prieto (2010), Modification of inertial oscillations by the mesoscale eddy field, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 115, C09010, doi:10.1029/2009JC005679.

4. Elipot, S., and S. T. Gille (2009), Estimates of wind energy input to the Ekman layer in the Southern Ocean from surface drifter data, J. Geophys. Res., 114, C06003, doi:10.1029/2008JC-005170.

3. Elipot, S., and S. T. Gille (2009), Ekman layers in the Southern Ocean: spectral models and observations, vertical viscosity and boundary layer depth, Ocean Sci., 5, 115-139, doi:10.5194/os-5-115-2009.

2. Elipot, S., and R. Lumpkin (2008), Spectral description of oceanic near-surface variability, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L05606, doi:10.1029/2007GL032589.

1. Beal, L. M. , T. K. Chereskin, Y.-D. Lenn , and S. Elipot (2006), The sources and mixing characteristics of the Agulhas Current, J. Phys. Oceanogr., 36, 2060-2074, doi:10.1175/JPO2964.1.

Others:

b. MacKinnon, J.A., Alford, M., Bouruet-Aubertot, P., Bindoff, N., Elipot, S., Gille, S., Girton, J., Gregg, M.C., Hallberg, R., Kunze, E., Naveira Garabato, A., Phillips, H., Pinkel, R., Polzin, K., Sanford, T., Simmons, H., and Speer, K., (2010), Using global arrays to investigate internal-waves and mixing, in Proceedings of the OceanObs09: Sustained Ocean Observations and Information for Society Conference (Vol. 1), Venice, Italy, 21-25 September 2009, Hall, J., Harrison D.E. and Stammer, D., Eds., ESA Publication WPP-306.

a. Elipot, S. (2006). Spectral characterization of Ekman velocities in the Southern Ocean based on surface drifter trajectories. UC San Diego. ProQuest ID: umi-ucsd-1392. Merritt ID: ark:/20775/bb6280737k. Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2pp898fv