Wind-driven circulation for the eastern North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre from Argo data

A trans-oceanic section at 24.5°N in the North Atlantic has been sampled at a decadal frequency. This work demonstrates that the wind-driven component of the Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC) may be monitored using autonomous profiling floats deployed in the eastern North Atlantic Subtropical...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Fraile Nuez, Eugenio, Hernández-Guerra, Alonso
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2006
País:España
Repositorio:accedaCRIS portal de investigación de la Universidad de las Palmas de Gran Canaria
OAI Identifier:oai:accedacris.ulpgc.es:10553/12767
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10553/12767
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:251007 Oceanografía física
Meridional Overturning Circulation
Ocean Circulation
Hydrographic Data
Heat-Transport
Water Masses
Thermocline
Mechanisms
Design
Descripción
Sumario:A trans-oceanic section at 24.5°N in the North Atlantic has been sampled at a decadal frequency. This work demonstrates that the wind-driven component of the Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC) may be monitored using autonomous profiling floats deployed in the eastern North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre. More than 500 CTD vertical profiles from the surface to 2000 m depth, spanning one year (from April 2002 to March 2003), are used to compute the geostrophic transport stream function at 24.5°N. The baroclinic transport obtained from the autonomous profiling floats is not statistically different than that from three hydrographic cruises carried out in 1957, 1981 and 1992. A good agreement is found between the geostrophic transport stream function and the transport derived from the wind field through the Sverdrup relation.