Description: A total of 131 current meter records of between 6 and 24 month duration are analysed to describe the deep flow field of the eastern North Atlantic from 19° to 54°N and from the Continental Slope to the Mid Atlantic Ridge. Mean flows are weak and may be statistically indeterminate in some records and locations, but appear to indicate cyclonic circulations around the Iberia and Porcupine abyssal plains with a generally southward flow along the Mid Atlantic ridge and a deep northward slope current (where measurements exist) along the eastern boundary. The deepest inflow to the north-eastern basin that has been identified to date takes place through the Discovery Gap of 〉4,700 m sill-depth at 37° 25′N 15° 45′W in the Azores-Portugal ridge. South of that ridge, observations are sparse and no systematic circulation is yet evident. These observations are discussed in relation to recent geostrophic estimates of the deep circulation.

Description: In the Neil Brown Instruments' MKIIIB-CTD (conductivity-temperature-depth profiler), the system's digital outputs for the three basic measurements of temperature, conductivity and pressure typically show some small amplitude deviations from smooth calibrations which should be corrected for to achieve high accuracies, as required, e.g. within the Hydrographic Program (WHP) of the current World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE). These deviations show up as (i) a strong nonlinearity or even discontinuity of several mK close to 0°C in temperature output leading to too high subzero temperatures; (ii) a jump of order 0.002 mS cm−1 in conductivity output when passing the half-range value 32.768 mS cm−1, which causes jumps in the relation of potential temperature and salinity; and (iii) errors in pressure measurements of up to 4 dbar due to mechanical hysteresis and both static and dynamic responses to temperature changes. The existence of these effects is demonstrated, and methods to reduce the associated errors are suggested.

Description: First Paragraph: From its littoral margin to the open ocean, the western South Atlantic (Fig. 1) is marked at all depths by circulation patterns and exchange processes that are centrally important to the regional marine resources and local economies, and to the global flux of heat and dissolved substances. Among other important characteristics, the Southwest Atlantic (SWA) is characterized by the presence of the Brazil Current (BC), a warm western boundary current that, while weaker than the Gulf Stream in terms of mass transport, is energetically comparable to its North Atlantic counterpart, particularly in the region of confluence with the northward-flowing Malvinas Current (MC) at approximately 38°S. Because of the wide range of issues needed to be understood in terms of the physical oceanography, this oceanic region has been addressed by several important scientific programs, a few of which are listed in Table 1 and indicated on Fig. 2. Results from these and other programs are summarized here and recommendations for future efforts are offered.

Description: During January and February 1989 the recirculation of the subtropical gyre in the eastern North Atlantic was surveyed with a three-ship experiment. The analysis of hydrographic measurements and velocity data from a shipboard acoustic Doppler current profiler reveals the synoptic-scale circulation patterns and water mass distributions in the Canary Basin. The geostrophic transport stream function estimated with a horizontally varying reference level of no motion highlights the major currents in three layers representing the vertical structure of the horizontal circulation. The classical circulation scheme is shown by the stream function in the upper 200 m: the Azores, Canary, and North Equatorial currents. Unlike the deep-penetrating Azores Current, the Canary Current and the North Equatorial Current are restricted to the upper 200 m. Both carry North Atlantic Central Water along the water mass boundary with South Atlantic Central Water. South Atlantic Central Water flows through the passage between the Cape Verde archipelago and Africa via narrow currents into the area north of 14.5°N. At the southern edge of the subtropical gyre we identify an eastward flow of Antarctic Intermediate Water between 700 and 1200 m.

Description: Highlights: • Unique data set of daily temperature and current measurements over almost 30 years. • Cooling of the thermocline in the 1980s and extensive warming in the 2000s. • Currents indicate northward displacement of N-Atlantic subtropical Gyre in 1990s. • Influence of NAO and ENSO on current regime even in 500 m water depth. Data from almost thirty years of time series observations from a deep-sea mooring Kiel276 (33°N, 22°W), which was operated in the northeast Atlantic Ocean between 1980 and 2009, are studied to reveal information on the long term changes in the upper thermocline. This includes daily records of temperature and currents at two depths (240 m and 500 m). Until 1988, our analysis shows decreasing temperature in the entire thermocline followed by a slight increase at both depths; from 2000 on, extensive warming began at the shallower depth (240 m) and eight years later at the deeper (500 m) level. A northward displacement of the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre is indicated by both current measurements and calculated kinetic energy between 1991 and 1998 resulting in an altered current regime in terms of absolute velocity and current directions in the last ten years compared to the first twenty years. Coherences of the currents with large scale climatic patterns such as North Atlantic Oscillation and El Niño/ Southern Oscillation evidence the atmospheric impact even at 500 m water depth.

Description: Two high-resolution hydrographic sections occupied during February, March 1989 in the western and eastern basins of the North Atlantic at 14.5N are combined to study the water mass structure and meridional mass and heat transports. Absolute velocities were determined using these data and an earlier section at 8N in a linear inverse analysis. Mass balance for several layers representing the main water masses in the region and a zero net divergence for the sum of geostrophic and Ekman transport between the two sections are assumed. Using the annual mean of Ekman transports (13.6 Sv, 14.5N), (15.2 Sv, 8N) based on the climatology by Isemer and Hasse (1985) the annual average fluxes for the sections at 8N and 14.5N have been calculated. For the annual mean the strength of the meridional overturning cell at 14.5N amounts to 15.9 Sv with an associated heat transport of 1.22 PW. A similar value can be obtained at 8N where the annual mean heat transport reaches 1.18 PW and the overturning cell measures 15 Sv. The total northward heat transport is strongly dominated by the wind-driven Ekman heat transport. 'In-situ' values of heat transport using the actual wind-driven transports for the respective months yield even higher estimates. Heat transport at 14.5N rises to 1.37 +/- 0.42 PW (February) and the maximum is now at the 8N section, 1.69 +/- 0.52 PW (May). Comparisons of our results with another tropical section at 11N occupied concurrently demonstrate the large variability in heat transport related to changes in the wind field. Due to extremely weak winds in the eastern Atlantic and a resulting low Ekman transport, the 'in-situ' value of heat transport through this section ranged between 0.30 +/- 0.18 PW and 0.59 +/- 0.18 PW depending on the value chosen for the Ekman transport. The lower of the two heat transport estimates results from calculations with the actual observed winds and the other using a monthly climatological mean. That even the computations with the climatological monthly mean give such a low heat transport points to additional changes in the baroclinic structures between 11N and 14.5N.

Description: 14.10.-16.10.2002