Transport variability in the Lanzarote passage (eastern boundary current of the North Atlantic subtropical Gyre)

• Published in: Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers
• Main Authors: Hernández-Guerra, A., Fraile-Nuez, E., Borges, R., López-Laatzen, F., Vélez-Belchí, P., Parrilla, G., Müller, Thomas J.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2003
• Subjects: Antarctic; Antarc*; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/5185/; https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/5185/1/1-s2.0-S0967063702001632-main.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1016/S0967-0637(02)00163-2

Observations from a four-year current meter mooring at 28°44′N, 13°28′W in the Lanzarote passage are used to describe the transport variability of the Eastern Boundary Current of the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre. Three different water masses are found in the passage: North Atlantic Central Water in the upper levels (roughly Full-size image (<1 K)), Antarctic Intermediate Water (roughly Full-size image (<1 K)) and Mediterranean Water in the layer above the bottom at Full-size image (<1 K). The mean southward transport of NACW is Full-size image (<1 K)Full-size image (<1 K) which is the transport of the easternmost branch of the Canary Current. Fluctuations of NACW transport are large, ranging from Full-size image (<1 K) southward to Full-size image (<1 K) northward. Every autumn a consistent northward transport is observed, which may be related with the eastern boundary upwelling dynamics. The mean transports of AAIW and MW are Full-size image (<1 K) northward and Full-size image (<1 K) southward, respectively. Fluctuations of transport of AAIW and MW are large, from 1.0 to Full-size image (<1 K) and from −0.32 to Full-size image (<1 K), respectively. Thus, the mass transports for each water mass show a high standard deviation of comparable magnitude to the mean. This highlights the importance of the temporal variability of the currents in this passage. A remarkable feature of our observations is that the mean transports of NACW and AAIW during an El Niño event are significantly different.