Will Deep Subtropical Ring ‘Storm Physallv’ Cross the Mid Atlantic Ridgea and Reach America?

A short research cruise was planned to trace the movement of a discrete body of water in the subtropical eastern North Atlantic Ocean. A subtropical ring or deep eddy called STORM was found budding off the Subtropical Front (STF) south-west of the Azores. A physical, chemical and biological survey t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom
Main Authors: Pingree, R.D., Sinha, B., New, A.L., Waddington, I., Head, R.N., Nechvolodov, L.V.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1996
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0025315400031271
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0025315400031271
Description
Summary:A short research cruise was planned to trace the movement of a discrete body of water in the subtropical eastern North Atlantic Ocean. A subtropical ring or deep eddy called STORM was found budding off the Subtropical Front (STF) south-west of the Azores. A physical, chemical and biological survey to depths of 3·5 km was made of this 400 km scale body of water which was spinning cyclonically (anticlockwise). The azimuthal transport or the amount of water swirling in the eddy was 45 Sv. Storm was ‘hooked’ with ten drogued Argos buoys and a further five subsurface Alace floats were deployed. Storm is moving westward at ~3 km a day and is expected to reach the Mid Atlantic Ridge in rather less than a year unless it is destroyed by typography or reabsorbed into the Azores Current. With current technology, Storm's evolution and westward progress can be observed and analysed remotely, at a distance of ~3000 km in the laboratory. Realtime position data means that future sea surveys can be planned.