Abstract: Embodiments relate to a system and methods for isolating the inertial and non-inertial components of a velocity field in a body of water, and further provides methods for predicting a path of an object in a body of water and for identifying an initial location in the water at which an object should be placed so that it travels to a desired location. The methods in some cases can partition a time series of velocity fields into inertial and non-inertial components in such a way that accounts for the variation of the inertial period over the range of latitudes within the field and maintains the fidelity of non-inertial variability over both shorter and longer time scales. The embodiments seperate the less-reliable inertial components from the more-reliable non-inertial background, enabling straightforward calculation of transport due to the non-inertial flow and evaluation of the superposition of inertial oscillations.

Abstract: System and method for partitioning a time series of velocity fields into inertial and non-inertial components to account for the variation of the inertial period over the range of latitudes within the field and to maintain the fidelity of non-inertial variability over both shorter and longer time scales. The system and method can facilitate flow interpretations and drift predictions by separating the less-reliable inertial components from the more-reliable non-inertial background.