Submesoscale streamers exchange water on the north wall of the Gulf Stream
The Gulf Stream is a major conduit of warm surface water from the tropics to the subpolar North Atlantic. Here we observe and simulate a submesoscale (<20 km) mechanism by which the Gulf Stream exchanges water with subpolar water to the north. Along isopycnals, the front has a sharp compensated t...
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1828/12347 https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL067152 |
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ftuvicpubl:oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/12347 2023-05-15T17:35:39+02:00 Submesoscale streamers exchange water on the north wall of the Gulf Stream Klymak, Jody M. Shearman, R. Kipp Gula, Jonathan Lee, Craig M. D'Asaro, Eric A. Thomas, Leif N. McWilliams, James C. 2016 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/1828/12347 https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL067152 en eng Geophysical Research Letters Klymak, J. M., Shearman, R. K., Gula, J., Lee, C. M., D;Asaro, E. A., Thomas, L. N., & McWilliams, J. C. (2016). Submesoscale streamers exchange water on the north wall of the Gulf Stream. Geophysical Research Letters, 43(3), 1226-1233. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL067152. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL067152 http://hdl.handle.net/1828/12347 ocean mixing Gulf Stream submesoscale mixing eddies Article 2016 ftuvicpubl https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL067152 2022-05-19T06:10:12Z The Gulf Stream is a major conduit of warm surface water from the tropics to the subpolar North Atlantic. Here we observe and simulate a submesoscale (<20 km) mechanism by which the Gulf Stream exchanges water with subpolar water to the north. Along isopycnals, the front has a sharp compensated temperature‐salinity contrast, with distinct mixed water between the two water masses 2 and 4 km wide. This mixed water does not increase downstream despite substantial energy available for mixing. A series of streamers detrain this water at the crest of meanders. Subpolar water replaces the mixed water and resharpens the front. The water mass exchange accounts for a northward flux of salt of 0.5–2.5 psu m2 s−1, (large‐scale diffusivity O (100 m2 s−1)). This is similar to bulk‐scale flux estimates of 1.2 psu m2 s−1 and supplies fresher water to the Gulf Stream required for the production of 18° subtropical mode water. Our thanks to the captains and crews of R/V Knorr and R/V Atlantis, and our technicians who made this work possible. The AVHRR Oceans Pathfinder SST data were obtained from the Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center (PO.DAAC) at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, http://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov. The bulk of this work was funded under the Scalable Lateral Mixing and Coherent Turbulence Departmental Research Initiative and the Physical Oceanography Program of the Office of Naval Research, program officers Terri Paluszkiewicz and Scott Harper. The data used in this paper can be found at http://web.uvic.ca/∼jklymak/LM12/GulfStreamPaper/. Faculty Reviewed Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic University of Victoria (Canada): UVicDSpace Harper ENVELOPE(-57.050,-57.050,-84.050,-84.050) Geophysical Research Letters 43 3 1226 1233 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Victoria (Canada): UVicDSpace |
op_collection_id |
ftuvicpubl |
language |
English |
topic |
ocean mixing Gulf Stream submesoscale mixing eddies |
spellingShingle |
ocean mixing Gulf Stream submesoscale mixing eddies Klymak, Jody M. Shearman, R. Kipp Gula, Jonathan Lee, Craig M. D'Asaro, Eric A. Thomas, Leif N. McWilliams, James C. Submesoscale streamers exchange water on the north wall of the Gulf Stream |
topic_facet |
ocean mixing Gulf Stream submesoscale mixing eddies |
description |
The Gulf Stream is a major conduit of warm surface water from the tropics to the subpolar North Atlantic. Here we observe and simulate a submesoscale (<20 km) mechanism by which the Gulf Stream exchanges water with subpolar water to the north. Along isopycnals, the front has a sharp compensated temperature‐salinity contrast, with distinct mixed water between the two water masses 2 and 4 km wide. This mixed water does not increase downstream despite substantial energy available for mixing. A series of streamers detrain this water at the crest of meanders. Subpolar water replaces the mixed water and resharpens the front. The water mass exchange accounts for a northward flux of salt of 0.5–2.5 psu m2 s−1, (large‐scale diffusivity O (100 m2 s−1)). This is similar to bulk‐scale flux estimates of 1.2 psu m2 s−1 and supplies fresher water to the Gulf Stream required for the production of 18° subtropical mode water. Our thanks to the captains and crews of R/V Knorr and R/V Atlantis, and our technicians who made this work possible. The AVHRR Oceans Pathfinder SST data were obtained from the Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center (PO.DAAC) at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, http://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov. The bulk of this work was funded under the Scalable Lateral Mixing and Coherent Turbulence Departmental Research Initiative and the Physical Oceanography Program of the Office of Naval Research, program officers Terri Paluszkiewicz and Scott Harper. The data used in this paper can be found at http://web.uvic.ca/∼jklymak/LM12/GulfStreamPaper/. Faculty Reviewed |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Klymak, Jody M. Shearman, R. Kipp Gula, Jonathan Lee, Craig M. D'Asaro, Eric A. Thomas, Leif N. McWilliams, James C. |
author_facet |
Klymak, Jody M. Shearman, R. Kipp Gula, Jonathan Lee, Craig M. D'Asaro, Eric A. Thomas, Leif N. McWilliams, James C. |
author_sort |
Klymak, Jody M. |
title |
Submesoscale streamers exchange water on the north wall of the Gulf Stream |
title_short |
Submesoscale streamers exchange water on the north wall of the Gulf Stream |
title_full |
Submesoscale streamers exchange water on the north wall of the Gulf Stream |
title_fullStr |
Submesoscale streamers exchange water on the north wall of the Gulf Stream |
title_full_unstemmed |
Submesoscale streamers exchange water on the north wall of the Gulf Stream |
title_sort |
submesoscale streamers exchange water on the north wall of the gulf stream |
publisher |
Geophysical Research Letters |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1828/12347 https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL067152 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-57.050,-57.050,-84.050,-84.050) |
geographic |
Harper |
geographic_facet |
Harper |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_relation |
Klymak, J. M., Shearman, R. K., Gula, J., Lee, C. M., D;Asaro, E. A., Thomas, L. N., & McWilliams, J. C. (2016). Submesoscale streamers exchange water on the north wall of the Gulf Stream. Geophysical Research Letters, 43(3), 1226-1233. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL067152. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL067152 http://hdl.handle.net/1828/12347 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL067152 |
container_title |
Geophysical Research Letters |
container_volume |
43 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
1226 |
op_container_end_page |
1233 |
_version_ |
1766134884180426752 |