Energy and Mass Flux in the Gulf Stream

• Main Author: Eofonoff,Nicholas P.
• Other Authors: WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION MA
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1982
• Subjects: *Energy transfer; *Mass transfer; Momentum transfer; Kinetic energy; Flow; Component reports; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADP001045; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADP001045

Estimates of the kinetic energy and momentum fluxes of the Gulf Stream are obtained from the meridional hydrographic sections taken during the Gulf Stream '60 surveys (Fuglister, 1963). The kinetic energy flux appears to be higher than the input of potential energy by wind stress requiring recycling of energy in the Worthington recirculation gyre. The momentum flux divergence is sufficiently large to account for a major fraction of the east-west pressure difference in the North Atlantic at Gulf Stream latitudes. The effects of ageostrophic fluxes cannot be ignored in Gulf Stream dynamics. In summary, the kinetic energy and momentum fluxes are sufficiently large that their effects cannot be ignored in describing the dynamical balances of the Gulf Stream. This article is from 'Proceedings of the Workshop on Gulf Stream Structure and Variability Held at Research Triangle Park, North Carolina on 1-2 April 1982,' AD-A128 789.