Throughflow and the Azores Current

• Main Authors: Yanli Jia, Andrew C. Coward, David J. Webb, Adrian L. New
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Mid-Atlantic Ridge; north atlantic current; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.699.65; http://www.noc.soton.ac.uk/JRD/OCCAM/POSTERS/jia_coward_poster.pdf

separates into two branches. The northern branch turns northeast and becomes the North Atlantic Current. The southern branch forms the Azores Current which heads southeast, across the Mid−Atlantic Ridge, reaching south of the Azores, and then mainly eastward at a latitude of 35oN to the Moroccan continental slopes. The Azores Current can be identified as a 60−100 km wide meandering jet with an eastward velocity of 25−50 cm/s. The eastward flow is mostly in the upper few hundred metres but can reach as deep as 2000 m. It carries a large proportion of the transport to the eastern recirculation of the subtropical gyre in the Canary Basin. The estimates of the Azores Current transport are in the range of