Deep circulation in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean

International audience In the Atlantic Ocean, the northward export of warm surface water is compensated by a southward flow of cold North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW). The NADW is transported southward along the American continental margin within the Deep Western Boundary Current (DWBC). Some tracer a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical Research Letters
Main Authors: Gouriou, Yves, Andrié, Chantal, Bourlès, Bernard, Freudenthal, S., Arnault, Sabine, Aman, A., Eldin, Gérard, Du Penhoat, Yves, Baurand, François, Gallois, Francis, Chuchla, Rémy
Other Authors: University IRD Noumea, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD Nouvelle-Calédonie ), Laboratoire d'océanographie dynamique et de climatologie (LODYC), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Université de Cocody, Laboratoire d'études en Géophysique et océanographie spatiales (LEGOS), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Météo France-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Météo France-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: HAL CCSD 2001
Subjects:
• 2
B. Bourl•s 3
S. Freudenthal 2
S. Arnault 2
A. Aman 4
G. Eldin 5
Y. du Penhoat 5
F. Baurand 3
F. Gallois I and R. Chuchla 3
[PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-GEO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Geophysics [physics.geo-ph]
NADW
North Atlantic Deep Water
North Atlantic
Online Access:https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01834324
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01834324/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01834324/file/2000GL012326.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1029/2000GL012326
Description
Summary:International audience In the Atlantic Ocean, the northward export of warm surface water is compensated by a southward flow of cold North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW). The NADW is transported southward along the American continental margin within the Deep Western Boundary Current (DWBC). Some tracer and float observations have shown that part of the DWBC water flows eastward along the equator. Here we present three meridional velocity sections which give an instantaneous image of the top‐to‐bottom zonal circulation along the equatorial Atlantic. They reveal the presence of Equatorial Deep Jets (EDJs) between 1°30′N and 1°30′S, alternating eastward‐westward currents with short vertical scale, surrounded by columns of eastward currents (the Extra Equatorial Jets or EEJs) at 2°N and 2°S. In addition to direct velocity measurements, tracer distributions give indications of water‐mass feeding of the EDJs and EEJs by the DWBC.

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