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

Observations from a four-year current meter mooring at 281440N;131280W in the Lanzarote passage are used todescribe the transport variability of the Eastern Boundary Current of the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre. Threedifferent water masses are found in the passage: North Atlantic Central Water in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers
Main Authors: Hernández-Guerra, Alonso, Fraile Nuez,Eugenio, Borges, Rafael, López-Laatzen, Federico, Vélez Belchí,Pedro, Parrilla, Gregorio, Müller, Thomas J.
Other Authors: Velez-Belchi, Pedro, Fraile-Nuez, Eugenio, Hernandez-Guerra, Alonso, 6701736545, 12139561900, 7005086276, 6506580233, 7801599223, 56176015700, 56408776800, 660191, 1139939, 8576632, 6387855, 5387532, 1378362, 1830692, 2931366, WOS:Hernandez-Guerra, A, WOS:Fraile-Nuez, E, WOS:Borges, R, WOS:Lopez-Laatzen, F, WOS:Velez-Belchi, P, WOS:Parrilla, G, WOS:Muller, TJ
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 0967-0637 2003
Subjects:
2510 Oceanografía
Current data analysis
Mass transport
Temporal variation
Boundary currents
Eastern boundary current
Canary current
Antarctic
Antarc*
North Atlantic
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10553/50063
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0967-0637(02)00163-2
Description
Summary:Observations from a four-year current meter mooring at 281440N;131280W in the Lanzarote passage are used todescribe the transport variability of the Eastern Boundary Current of the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre. Threedifferent water masses are found in the passage: North Atlantic Central Water in the upper levels (roughly 02600 m),Antarctic Intermediate Water (roughly 60021100 m) and Mediterranean Water in the layer above the bottom at1300 m:The mean southward transport of NACW is 0.8+-1.1 Sv (1 Sv=10 9 kg s-1 which is the transport of theeasternmost branch of the Canary Current. Fluctuations of NACW transport are large, ranging from -3:4Svs outhward to 1.7 Sv northward. Every autumn a consistent northward transport is observed, which may be related withthe eastern boundary upwelling dynamics. The mean transports of AAIW and MW are 0.1+-0.4 Sv northward and -0.05 +-0:09 Sv southward, respectively. Fluctuations of transport of AAIW and MW are large, from 1.0 to -1. 0Svand from -0.32 to 0.23 Sv;respectively. Thus, the mass transports for each water mass show a high standard deviationof 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. 200 189 2,304 Q1 SCIE

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