Water masses, circulation and transport in the eastern boundary current of the North Atlantic subtropical gyre

CTD sections carried out in September 1998 are used to describe the water masses, geostrophic circulation and mass transport in the easternmost branch of the Canary Current. The surface water mass (<600 m) consists of North Atlantic Central Water (NACW) flowing south with a net mass transport of...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientia Marina
Main Authors: Hernández Guerra, Alonso, López Laatzen, Federico, Machín, Francisco, Armas, Demetrio de, Pelegrí, Josep Lluís
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: CSIC - Instituto de Ciencias del Mar (ICM) 2001
Subjects:
Water masses
Circulation
Transport
Eastern boundary current
Subtropical gyre
Antarctic
Las Palmas
Antarc*
North Atlantic
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/5330
https://doi.org/10.3989/scimar.2001.65s1177
Description
Summary:CTD sections carried out in September 1998 are used to describe the water masses, geostrophic circulation and mass transport in the easternmost branch of the Canary Current. The surface water mass (<600 m) consists of North Atlantic Central Water (NACW) flowing south with a net mass transport of 2.3 x 109 kg s-1. A tongue of relatively fresh water, consisting of Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW), was found approximately in the 600-1100 m depth layer. This tongue was 200 km wide, stretching from the African coast almost to Gran Canaria Island, and transported a net mass of 1.1 x 109 kg s-1 northward. This system of currents is what constitutes the real eastern boundary current of the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre We wish to acknoledge the support of the European Union under CANIGO project (MAS-CT96-0060). The satellite image used in this study was received and processed at the Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria under a FEDER contract (1FD97-1167) Peer reviewed

Similar Items