Circulation of the Northeast Pacific Ocean inferred from temperature and salinity data ...

• Main Author: Matear, Richard James
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2010
• Subjects: Arctic; Pacific
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0052972; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0052972

The temperature, salinity, and pressure (STP) data were collected during two cruises, one in early October and the other in early December of 1987, as part of the Ocean Storms experiment. These hydrographic data were analyzed to determine circulation of the northeast Pacific Ocean and to calculate the factors influencing the heat and salt content of the upper ocean. From the depth profiles of the temperature and salinity data, the water mass in the Ocean Storms area was classified as being the Eastern Sub-Arctic Pacific Water Mass. Maps of dynamic height for this area revealed that the current pattern was generally smooth but that mesoscale eddies did exist in the flow. Isentropic analysis of the temperature and salinity fields produced a flow pattern that was generally consistent with the. dynamic height maps. However, this analysis revealed additional details in the flow that were not evident in the dynamic height maps. To extract additional information from the temperature and salinity data an inverse ...