A Deep Hydrographic Section Across the Tasman Sea.

• Main Author: Mulhearn,P J
• Other Authors: ROYAL AUSTRALIAN NAVY RESEARCH LAB EDGECLIFF
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1985
• Subjects: Physical and Dynamic Oceanography; *TASMAN SEA; TEMPERATURE; OCEAN CURRENTS; WATER; MASS; CONTINENTAL SLOPES; CROSS SECTIONS; CONCENTRATION(COMPOSITION); SALINITY; AUSTRALIA; SEA WATER; GEOSTROPHIC CURRENTS; WATER MASSES; BOTTOM; SOUTH PACIFIC OCEAN; Antarctic; Pacific; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA167638; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA167638

This memorandum reports on the results obtained from a deep hydrographic section across the Tasman Sea in December 1983. Data were obtained on temperature, salinity and oxygen concentration. Cross-sections of these variables and of potential temperature, density and geostrophic current are presented. A small cold region, suggestive of a boundary current, was found at the foot of the NSW Continental Slope, near 36 deg S, as well as a relatively cold water mass near 37-1/2 deg S, 155-1/2 deg E over the now dormat, mid-Tasman spreading ridge. The latter water mass is probably associated with a north-westwards flow of water derived from Antarctic bottom water. Deep geostrophic currents relative to 2,000 n were weak and of order 3 cm/sec northwards near 37-1/2 deg S, 155 deg E, and 2.5 cm/sec southwards over the abyssal plain near 36-1/2 deg S, 152-1/2 deg E. Keywords: Sea water; Water masses; Ocean currents; Descriptive oceanography.