Meridional Circulation in the Tropical North Atlantic

• Main Author: Friedrichs, Marjorie A.
• Other Authors: WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION MA
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1992
• Subjects: 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; Western Basin; NADW; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA256906; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA256906

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.