Improved identification and tracking of three-dimensional eddies in the Southern Ocean utilizing 3D-U-Res-Net

Oceanic mesoscale eddies are prevalent throughout the global ocean, playing a critical role in material and energy transport while significantly influencing climate change. Accurate characterization of their three-dimensional structures and movement is essential for a quantitative analysis of their transport processes. Traditional eddy detection algorithms have lower successful detection rate and with more limitations, so they fall short in the complex and dynamic ocean environment. The rising trend of applying artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, due to their efficiency, precision, and automation, addresses this challenge. This study employs the 3D-U-Res-Net algorithm to identify the three-dimensional structures of mesoscale eddies in the Southern Ocean using GLORYS12V1 data from 2011 to 2020. A vector geometry-based eddy detection algorithm (VG) initially identified 1587292 eddy snapshots in the Southern Ocean (2011–2019), which were used for training the 3D-U-Res-Net algorithm. Data from 2020 served as the ground truth and validation set. The successful detection rate of 3D-U-Res-Net algorithm is 100%, which means that it identified all 135734 eddy snapshots from the VG dataset in 2020. For eddy tracking, the VG algorithm counted 18168 eddy tracks, whereas the 3D-U-Res-Net counted 18559, reflecting a 2.15% bias. To reduce uncertainty, eddies with lifespans shorter than two weeks were excluded. The average lifespans and traveling distances for eddies detected by the 3D-U-Res-Net (VG) algorithm were 29.35 (29.61) days and 77.78 (37.60) km, respectively, with the 3D-U-Res-Net identifying eddies with longer traveling distances. The mean radius of eddies detected by the VG algorithm was 43.16 km, while the 3D-U-Res-Net detected eddies with a mean radius of 43.74 km, a 0.58 km increase. We categorized eddies into four three-dimensional structures: bowl-shaped, cone-shaped, lens-shaped, and cylindrical. The VG algorithm identified these structures in proportions of 32%, 31%, 25%, and 12%, respectively, whereas the 3D-U-Res-Net algorithm found 19.48%, 19.58%, 0.04%, and 60.9%, respectively. The 3D-U-Res-Net identified more cylindrical eddies and was approximately ten times faster than the VG algorithm. Overall, this algorithm has good performance and higher efficiency. It is an attempt of using AI for oceanic research, and more works can be carried out in the future.