Western Arctic shelfbreak eddies : formation and transport
Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2008. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 38 (2008): 1644-1668, doi:10.1175/2007JPO3829.1. Th...
Published in: | Journal of Physical Oceanography |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
American Meteorological Society
2008
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1912/4048 |
id |
ftwhoas:oai:darchive.mblwhoilibrary.org:1912/4048 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftwhoas:oai:darchive.mblwhoilibrary.org:1912/4048 2023-05-15T14:56:48+02:00 Western Arctic shelfbreak eddies : formation and transport Spall, Michael A. Pickart, Robert S. Fratantoni, Paula S. Plueddemann, Albert J. 2008-08 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/1912/4048 en_US eng American Meteorological Society https://hdl.handle.net/1912/3977 https://doi.org/10.1175/2007JPO3829.1 Journal of Physical Oceanography 38 (2008): 1644-1668 https://hdl.handle.net/1912/4048 doi:10.1175/2007JPO3829.1 Journal of Physical Oceanography 38 (2008): 1644-1668 doi:10.1175/2007JPO3829.1 Arctic Eddies Transport Currents Jets Article 2008 ftwhoas https://doi.org/10.1175/2007JPO3829.1 2022-05-28T22:58:11Z Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2008. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 38 (2008): 1644-1668, doi:10.1175/2007JPO3829.1. The mean structure and time-dependent behavior of the shelfbreak jet along the southern Beaufort Sea, and its ability to transport properties into the basin interior via eddies are explored using high-resolution mooring data and an idealized numerical model. The analysis focuses on springtime, when weakly stratified winter-transformed Pacific water is being advected out of the Chukchi Sea. When winds are weak, the observed jet is bottom trapped with a low potential vorticity core and has maximum mean velocities of O(25 cm s−1) and an eastward transport of 0.42 Sv (1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1). Despite the absence of winds, the current is highly time dependent, with relative vorticity and twisting vorticity often important components of the Ertel potential vorticity. An idealized primitive equation model forced by dense, weakly stratified waters flowing off a shelf produces a mean middepth boundary current similar in structure to that observed at the mooring site. The model boundary current is also highly variable, and produces numerous strong, small anticyclonic eddies that transport the shelf water into the basin interior. Analysis of the energy conversion terms in both the mooring data and the numerical model indicates that the eddies are formed via baroclinic instability of the boundary current. The structure of the eddies in the basin interior compares well with observations from drifting ice platforms. The results suggest that eddies shed from the shelfbreak jet contribute significantly to the offshore flux of heat, salt, and other properties, and are likely important for the ventilation of the halocline in the western Arctic Ocean. Interaction with an anticyclonic basin-scale circulation, meant to represent the Beaufort ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Ocean Beaufort Sea Chukchi Chukchi Sea Woods Hole Scientific Community: WHOAS (Woods Hole Open Access Server) Arctic Arctic Ocean Chukchi Sea Pacific Journal of Physical Oceanography 38 8 1644 1668 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Woods Hole Scientific Community: WHOAS (Woods Hole Open Access Server) |
op_collection_id |
ftwhoas |
language |
English |
topic |
Arctic Eddies Transport Currents Jets |
spellingShingle |
Arctic Eddies Transport Currents Jets Spall, Michael A. Pickart, Robert S. Fratantoni, Paula S. Plueddemann, Albert J. Western Arctic shelfbreak eddies : formation and transport |
topic_facet |
Arctic Eddies Transport Currents Jets |
description |
Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2008. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 38 (2008): 1644-1668, doi:10.1175/2007JPO3829.1. The mean structure and time-dependent behavior of the shelfbreak jet along the southern Beaufort Sea, and its ability to transport properties into the basin interior via eddies are explored using high-resolution mooring data and an idealized numerical model. The analysis focuses on springtime, when weakly stratified winter-transformed Pacific water is being advected out of the Chukchi Sea. When winds are weak, the observed jet is bottom trapped with a low potential vorticity core and has maximum mean velocities of O(25 cm s−1) and an eastward transport of 0.42 Sv (1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1). Despite the absence of winds, the current is highly time dependent, with relative vorticity and twisting vorticity often important components of the Ertel potential vorticity. An idealized primitive equation model forced by dense, weakly stratified waters flowing off a shelf produces a mean middepth boundary current similar in structure to that observed at the mooring site. The model boundary current is also highly variable, and produces numerous strong, small anticyclonic eddies that transport the shelf water into the basin interior. Analysis of the energy conversion terms in both the mooring data and the numerical model indicates that the eddies are formed via baroclinic instability of the boundary current. The structure of the eddies in the basin interior compares well with observations from drifting ice platforms. The results suggest that eddies shed from the shelfbreak jet contribute significantly to the offshore flux of heat, salt, and other properties, and are likely important for the ventilation of the halocline in the western Arctic Ocean. Interaction with an anticyclonic basin-scale circulation, meant to represent the Beaufort ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Spall, Michael A. Pickart, Robert S. Fratantoni, Paula S. Plueddemann, Albert J. |
author_facet |
Spall, Michael A. Pickart, Robert S. Fratantoni, Paula S. Plueddemann, Albert J. |
author_sort |
Spall, Michael A. |
title |
Western Arctic shelfbreak eddies : formation and transport |
title_short |
Western Arctic shelfbreak eddies : formation and transport |
title_full |
Western Arctic shelfbreak eddies : formation and transport |
title_fullStr |
Western Arctic shelfbreak eddies : formation and transport |
title_full_unstemmed |
Western Arctic shelfbreak eddies : formation and transport |
title_sort |
western arctic shelfbreak eddies : formation and transport |
publisher |
American Meteorological Society |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/1912/4048 |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Chukchi Sea Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Chukchi Sea Pacific |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Beaufort Sea Chukchi Chukchi Sea |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Beaufort Sea Chukchi Chukchi Sea |
op_source |
Journal of Physical Oceanography 38 (2008): 1644-1668 doi:10.1175/2007JPO3829.1 |
op_relation |
https://hdl.handle.net/1912/3977 https://doi.org/10.1175/2007JPO3829.1 Journal of Physical Oceanography 38 (2008): 1644-1668 https://hdl.handle.net/1912/4048 doi:10.1175/2007JPO3829.1 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1175/2007JPO3829.1 |
container_title |
Journal of Physical Oceanography |
container_volume |
38 |
container_issue |
8 |
container_start_page |
1644 |
op_container_end_page |
1668 |
_version_ |
1766328868580360192 |