Abstract
The goal of this contribution is to summarize current research in physical oceanography on identifying, analyzing, modeling, or assimilating (into numerical ocean models) coherent structures seen in data. The structures considered here are dynamical features such as vortices and fronts, sets of contour positions, and the location of property extrema. The key analysis assumption allows the structure present in the data to determine the coordinate system for analyzing the data. Recent developments in the last decade are emphasized here rather than attempting a thorough historical review. Also because of space limitations, only the aspects central to our theme from the quoted studies will be noted. Because of the authors’ research interests, examples will focus on meso- and large-scale phenomena in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean.