Meridional Circulation in the Tropical North Atlantic
A transatlantic CTD/ADCP section nominally located at 11 deg N was carried out in March 1989. In this paper relative geostrophic velocities are computed from these data via the thermal wind balance, with reference level choices based primarily on water mass distributions. Mass is conserved by requir...
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ftdtic:ADA256906 2023-05-15T17:13:49+02:00 Meridional Circulation in the Tropical North Atlantic Friedrichs, Marjorie A. WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION MA 1992-09 text/html http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA256906 http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA256906 en eng http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA256906 Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. DTIC AND NTIS Physical and Dynamic Oceanography *OCEAN CURRENTS VELOCITY WATER SHALLOW WATER TROPICAL REGIONS GEOSTROPHIC CURRENTS NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN FLORIDA RECIRCULATION TRANSPORT SHIPS BRAZIL WATER MASSES GEOSTROPHIC WIND FLOW MASS TRANSFER WIND WATER FLOW *OCEAN CIRCULATION Text 1992 ftdtic 2016-02-22T12:33:30Z A transatlantic CTD/ADCP section nominally located at 11 deg N was carried out in March 1989. In this paper relative geostrophic velocities are computed from these data via the thermal wind balance, with reference level choices based primarily on water mass distributions. Mass is conserved by requiring the geostrophic transport to balance the sum of the Ekman and shallow western boundary current transports. A brief overview of the meridional circulation of the upper waters resulting from these analysis techniques is presented, and indicates a North Brazil Current transport of nearly 12 Sv. Transports of the shallow waters are found to support the results of Schmitz and Richardson (1991) who found nearly half of the Florida Current waters to be derived from the South Atlantic. Schematic circulation patterns of the NADW and AABW are also presented. The deep waters of the western basin are dominated by a cyclonic recirculation gyre, consisting of a southward DWBC transport of 26.5 + or - 1.8 Sv, with nearly half of this flow returning northward along the western flank of the MAR. A particularly notable result of the deep western basin analysis is the negligible net flow of middle NADW. Although the northward flows of upper and lower NADW along the western flank of the MAR are believed to be associated with the local recirculation gyre, the northward flow of middle NADW, which nearly balances the southward flow of this water mass along the western boundary, may be derived from the eastern basin of the South Atlantic. Text NADW North Atlantic Defense Technical Information Center: DTIC Technical Reports database Western Basin |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Defense Technical Information Center: DTIC Technical Reports database |
op_collection_id |
ftdtic |
language |
English |
topic |
Physical and Dynamic Oceanography *OCEAN CURRENTS VELOCITY WATER SHALLOW WATER TROPICAL REGIONS GEOSTROPHIC CURRENTS NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN FLORIDA RECIRCULATION TRANSPORT SHIPS BRAZIL WATER MASSES GEOSTROPHIC WIND FLOW MASS TRANSFER WIND WATER FLOW *OCEAN CIRCULATION |
spellingShingle |
Physical and Dynamic Oceanography *OCEAN CURRENTS VELOCITY WATER SHALLOW WATER TROPICAL REGIONS GEOSTROPHIC CURRENTS NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN FLORIDA RECIRCULATION TRANSPORT SHIPS BRAZIL WATER MASSES GEOSTROPHIC WIND FLOW MASS TRANSFER WIND WATER FLOW *OCEAN CIRCULATION Friedrichs, Marjorie A. Meridional Circulation in the Tropical North Atlantic |
topic_facet |
Physical and Dynamic Oceanography *OCEAN CURRENTS VELOCITY WATER SHALLOW WATER TROPICAL REGIONS GEOSTROPHIC CURRENTS NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN FLORIDA RECIRCULATION TRANSPORT SHIPS BRAZIL WATER MASSES GEOSTROPHIC WIND FLOW MASS TRANSFER WIND WATER FLOW *OCEAN CIRCULATION |
description |
A transatlantic CTD/ADCP section nominally located at 11 deg N was carried out in March 1989. In this paper relative geostrophic velocities are computed from these data via the thermal wind balance, with reference level choices based primarily on water mass distributions. Mass is conserved by requiring the geostrophic transport to balance the sum of the Ekman and shallow western boundary current transports. A brief overview of the meridional circulation of the upper waters resulting from these analysis techniques is presented, and indicates a North Brazil Current transport of nearly 12 Sv. Transports of the shallow waters are found to support the results of Schmitz and Richardson (1991) who found nearly half of the Florida Current waters to be derived from the South Atlantic. Schematic circulation patterns of the NADW and AABW are also presented. The deep waters of the western basin are dominated by a cyclonic recirculation gyre, consisting of a southward DWBC transport of 26.5 + or - 1.8 Sv, with nearly half of this flow returning northward along the western flank of the MAR. A particularly notable result of the deep western basin analysis is the negligible net flow of middle NADW. Although the northward flows of upper and lower NADW along the western flank of the MAR are believed to be associated with the local recirculation gyre, the northward flow of middle NADW, which nearly balances the southward flow of this water mass along the western boundary, may be derived from the eastern basin of the South Atlantic. |
author2 |
WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION MA |
format |
Text |
author |
Friedrichs, Marjorie A. |
author_facet |
Friedrichs, Marjorie A. |
author_sort |
Friedrichs, Marjorie A. |
title |
Meridional Circulation in the Tropical North Atlantic |
title_short |
Meridional Circulation in the Tropical North Atlantic |
title_full |
Meridional Circulation in the Tropical North Atlantic |
title_fullStr |
Meridional Circulation in the Tropical North Atlantic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Meridional Circulation in the Tropical North Atlantic |
title_sort |
meridional circulation in the tropical north atlantic |
publishDate |
1992 |
url |
http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA256906 http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA256906 |
geographic |
Western Basin |
geographic_facet |
Western Basin |
genre |
NADW North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
NADW North Atlantic |
op_source |
DTIC AND NTIS |
op_relation |
http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA256906 |
op_rights |
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. |
_version_ |
1766071015111131136 |