Transports and Pathways of the Upper-Layer Circulation in the Western Tropical Atlantic

Rez.: The mean warm water transfer toward the equator along the western boundary of the South Atlantic is investigated, based on a number of ship surveys carried out during 1990-96 with CTD water mass observations and current profiling by shipboard and lowered (with the CTD/rosette) acoustic Doppler...

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Veröffentlicht in:Journal of physical oceanography
1. Verfasser: Schott, Friedrich A. (VerfasserIn)
Weitere Verfasser: Fischer, Jürgen (VerfasserIn), Stramma, Lothar (VerfasserIn)
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Veröffentlicht: 1998
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Zusammenfassung:Rez.: The mean warm water transfer toward the equator along the western boundary of the South Atlantic is investigated, based on a number of ship surveys carried out during 1990-96 with CTD water mass observations and current profiling by shipboard and lowered (with the CTD/rosette) acoustic Doppler current profiler and with Pegasus current profiler. The bulk of the northward warm water flow follows the coast in the North Brazil Undercurrent (NBUC) from latitudes south of 10 degree S, carrying 23 Sv (Sv identical with 10 super(6) m super(3) s super(-1)) above 1000 m. Out of this, 16 Sv are waters warmer than 7 degree C that form the source waters of the Florida Current. Zonal inflow from the east by the South Equatorial Current enters the western boundary system dominantly north of 5 degree S, adding transport northwest of Cape San Roque, and transforming the NBUC along its way toward the equator into a surface-intensified current, the North Brazil Current (NBC). From the combination of moored arrays and shipboard sections just north of the equator along 44 degree W, the mean NBC transport was determined at 35 Sv with a small seasonal cycle amplitude of only about 3 Sv. The reason for the much larger near-equatorial northward warm water boundary current than what would be required to carry the northward heat transport are recirculations by the zonal current system and the existence of the shallow South Atlantic tropical-subtropical cell (STC).
Beschreibung:25
ISSN:0022-3670