Lowered ADCP, current meter data and PIES time series measurements in the western subpolar North Atlantic (47°N) ...

• Main Authors: Rhein, Monika, Mertens, Christian, Roessler, Achim
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2019
• Subjects: altimetry; current meter; LADCP; lowered ADCP; meridional transport time series; PIES; 47°N; west atlantic basin; western boundary currents; Regional Atlantic Circulation and global Change RACE; north atlantic current; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.903211; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.903211

Despite the importance of the large scale Atlantic circulation for the climate system and sea level, most of the interior flow field is only known qualitatively, and neither the mean nor the variability and trends are quantified. We investigate the meridional flow field in the western Atlantic at 47°N between 44°W and 31°W, combining moored inverted echo sounders (PIES) and current meter moorings with lowered ADCP and Argo data. Correlations with altimetry are used to extend each of the transport time series back to 1993. At the Canadian continental margin the boundary current (BC) exports -23.1±1.5 Sv to the south. Nearby, the northward flowing North Atlantic Current (NAC) imports 105.9±3.4 Sv into the subpolar gyre. Constrained mainly by topography, about half of that flow recirculates in close proximity to the NAC (-58.8±3.9 Sv). NAC and recirculation are significantly anticorrelated. The flow east of 37°W (-27.8±2.1 Sv) has no permanent regional features and is not correlated to the NAC. The sum of the ... : Supplement to: Rhein, Monika; Mertens, Christian; Roessler, Achim (2019): Observed transport decline at 47°N, western Atlantic. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 124(7), 4875-4890 ...