Mesoscale eddies propagate westward across the South Atlantic basin. As they reach the
westernmost part of the basin, at approximately 20° S, they interact with a quasi‐zonal
seamount chain, the Vitória‐Trindade Ridge (VTR). The interactions with the local
topography lead to submesoscales instabilities, which ignite the formation of submesoscale
coherent vortices (SCVs) such as those described in the present study for the first time in the
VTR region. Here, using high‐resolution hydrographic and microstructure measurements …

The majority of the ocean's kinetic energy remains at mostly balanced mesoscale 45 and
large-scale flows. While geostrophically balanced eddies transfer energy to larger scales 46
via an inverse cascade (Charney, 1971), different mechanisms can remove energy from 47
geostrophic flows and transfer it to unbalanced motions at smaller scales. This forward 48
cascade is modulated by submesoscale motions that act as a transition from the mostly 49
two-dimensional, geostrophically balanced dynamics to the full three-dimensional flows 50 …