Description: The Guinea Dome is a permanent, quasi-stationary feature on the eastern side of the thermal ridge extending zonally across the tropical North Atlantic. The dome is a part of the large-scale near-surface flow fields associated with the North Equatorial Current, the North Equatorial Countercurrent and the North Equatorial Undercurrent. In the present study, historical and recently obtained hydrographic data are combined to investigate the thermohaline structure and geostrophic flow field in the vicinity of the dome. It is shown that the Guinea Dome exists throughout the year both in subthermocline and thermocline layers, that it has a corresponding cyclonic geostrophic flow, and that seasonal changes occur with respect to its vertical structure, horizontal extent, and position. The observational results are then compared with simulations from a general circulation model of the tropical Atlantic. A seven-year simulation forced by observed monthly winds is run to compute a monthly climatology. The model adequately simulates the Guinea Dome with respect to its structure, flow field, and seasonal variability.

Description: The Cape Verde Frontal Zone separates the North and the South Atlantic Central Waters in the eastern North Atlantic. It also represents the boundary between the ventilated subtropical gyre and the quasi-stagnant shadow zone in the southeast. The thermohaline front is nearly compensated with respect to density, and density parameters RP, suggest the existence of double-diffusive processes. Datasets from three cruises to the region, approximately one year apart each, are used to determine the effects of double-diffusive diapycnal versus isopycnal mixing. For this purpose results from the usual temperature-salinity analysis assuming isopycnal mixing are compared to results from a multiparameter analysis where nutrient and oxygen data are also used. Significant diapycnal fluxes are found in the frontal zone between 200 and 300 m, with water mass contents being changed by more than 20% through diapycnal mixing. The associated buoyancy fluxes have a similar magnitude as surface fluxes in the area and thus represent an important contribution to the vertical balances of heat and salt.

Description: An analysis is presented of geostrophic volume transport across a zonal line along 28-degrees-N in the eastern Atlantic. The data are from an array of five moorings with 200-km spacing carrying temperature sensors and one current meter each for 1 or 2 years. Transport changes in the main thermocline relative to a fixed depth level are obtained by the use of temperature-salinity relationships. The transport variability is simulated by two propagating waves with first-order baroclinic mode structure. Solutions exist with annual and semi-annual periods and zonal wavelengths of 100-200 km and 300 km, respectively. Assuming quasi-geostrophic dynamics and using results on the Reynolds stress, the dominating waves of annual and semi-annual period are found to propagate to the southwest, with 45-degrees-60-degrees and 25-degrees to the south off the westward direction, respectively. Wave solutions with a 90-day period and a zonal wavelength of about 300 km are interpreted as an effect of barotropic waves arising due to horizontal temperature inhomogeneity. The propagation is about +/-25-degrees off the westward direction. In general, good approximations are obtained with the propagating wave simulations in the western and central part of the array, while large differences occur between observation and simulation close to the Canary archipelago. Possible causes for these differences are discussed.

Description: The Azores Current, south of the Azores Archipelago, is part of the subtropical North Atlantic gyre. Using an international hydrographic data set, we analyze mean and seasonal geostrophic transport fields in the upper 800 m of the ocean in order to determine the origin of the Azores Current in the western basin and seasonal changes in the related flow. Geostrophic currents are obtained by using the method applied by Stramma (1984) in the eastern basin. The Azores Current is found to originate in the area of the Southwest Newfoundland Rise (Figure 10). In winter an almost uniform current connects this region of origin with the Azores Current, while a branching into two current bands is observed in summer, with the southern band forming a marked cyclonic loop. Within the upper 800 m, all of the transport in the northern band and about 70% of the transport in the southern band recirculates in the eastern basin. Additionally, expendable bathythermograph data from the Azores Current region indicate an increase of eddy potential energy from winter to summer.

Description: Data from a large-scale moored array in the Iberian and Canary basins are used to determine the energies of barotropic and baroclinic M2 and S2 tides. An analysis of time-varying dynamical modes is performed. The results for barotropic modes confirm the global surface tide model results of Schwiderski (1980) for this region. The barotropic modes dominate in the deep basins, but increased baroclinic contributions are usually found over rough topography. At three locations near the continental slope in the southern Canary Basin the baroclinic modes dominate the barotropic mode. Results from an array of three moorings at the northern part of the Cape Verde Rise show an inverse behavior of barotropic and baroclinic energies, such that the baroclinic energy is steadily enhanced while the barotropic energy is reduced towards the continental margin. The increase in baroclinic energy is consistent with a generation of internal tides close to the shelf by surface tidal forcing over topography. Further evidence for this process is provided by the 2-week periodicity of the first-order baroclinic mode at the slope, corresponding to the spring-neap cycle of the barotropic tide.

Description: Mechanical energy terms are calculated from moored current meter data in the Cape Verde Frontal Zone (about 20°N, 25°W) and compared with those derived from a mesoscale model of this frontal region. The model is of the Bleck and Boudra [1981] type with isopycnal coordinates. An initially zonal jet, representing the Canary Current, is allowed to develop under the influence of baroclinic and barotropic instability processes. We find reasonable agreement in magnitudes, somewhat smaller in the model, and similar distributions in the vertical. This leads to the conclusion that the energy transfer terms from the model can be expected to be sufficiently close to reality. Determination of the transfer terms confirms that the energy transfer in the zone is dominated by baroclinic instability processes while barotropic instability is of minor importance. Average baroclinic instability energy transfer terms reach values of 2–3 μW m−3 in the pycnocline. Peak layer mean values are of the order 10 μW m−3. It is shown that the spatial distribution of active transfer regions is closely related to the structure of the transient eddy field in the frontal zone and that strong instability processes are restricted to the pycnocline.

Description: The Rio Grande Rise acts as a natural barrier for the equatorward flow of Antarctic Bottom Water in the subtropical South Atlantic. In addition to the Vema Channel, the Hunter Channel cuts through this obstacle and offers a separate route for bottom-water import into the southern Brazil Basin. On the occasion of the Deep Basin Experiment, a component of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE), the expected deep flow through the Hunter Channel was directly observed for the first time by an array of moored current meters and thermistor chains from December 1992 to May 1994. Main results are (i) the Hunter Channel is, in fact, a conduit for bottom-water flow into the Brazil Basin. Our new mean transport from moored current meters [2.92 (±1.24) × 106 m3 s−1] is significantly higher than earlier estimates that were based on geostrophic calculations. (ii) During the WOCE observational period a tendency toward increased bottom-water temperatures was observed. This observation from the Hunter Channel is consistent with findings from the Vema Channel. (iii) The overflow through the Hunter Channel is highly variable and puts in perspective earlier synoptic geostrophic transport estimates

Description: Zonal transports of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) in the South Atlantic are determined. For this purpose the circulation of intermediate and deep water masses is established on the basis of hydrographic sections from the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) and some pre-WOCE sections, using temperature, salinity, nutrients, and anthropogenic tracers. Multiple linear regression is applied to infer missing parameters in the bottle dataset. A linear box-inverse model is used for a set of closed boxes given by sections and continental boundaries. After performing a detailed analysis of water mass distribution, 11 layers are prescribed. Neutral density surfaces are selected as layer interfaces, thus improving the description of water mass distribution in the transition between the subtropical and subpolar latitudes. Constraints for the inverse model include integral meridional salt and phosphorus transports, overall salt and silica conservation, and transports from moored current meter observations. Inferred transport numbers for the mean meridional thermohaline overturning are given. Persistent zonal NADW transport bands are found in the western South Atlantic, in particular eastward flow of relatively new NADW between 20° and 25°S and westward flow of older NADW to the north of this latitude range. The axis of the eastward transport band corresponds to the core of property distributions in this region, suggesting Wüstian flow. Part of the eastward flow appears to cross the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at the Rio de Janeiro Fracture Zone. Results are compared qualitatively with deep float observations and results from general circulation models

Description: Recent hydrographic sections and high-quality historical data sets are used to determine geostrophic currents at subtropical latitudes in the western basin of the South Atlantic. Levels of no motion are determined from water mass information and a mass balance constraint to obtain the transport field of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) in this region. The incoming NADW transport of about 20 Sv from the north at 19 degrees S appears to be balanced by only one third of this transport leaving in the south and two thirds leaving to the east or northeast at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. A simple model is proposed to determine the cause of the NADW branching. It is shown that potential vorticity preservation in the presence of topographic changes leads to a similar flow pattern as observed, with branching near the Vitoria-Trindade-Ridge and also an eastward turning of the southward western boundary current at about 28 degrees S, the latitude where a balance of planetary vorticity change and stretching can be expected.

Description: Two major water masses dominate the deep layers in the Mariana and Caroline Basins: the Lower Circumpolar Water (LCPW), arriving from the Southern Ocean along the slopes north of the Marshall Islands, and the North Pacific Deep Water (NPDW) reaching the region from the northeastern Pacific Ocean. Hydrographic and moored observations and multibeam echosounding were performed in the East Mariana and the East Caroline Basins to detail watermass distributions and flow paths in the area. The LCPW enters the East Mariana Basin from the east. At about 13°N, however, in the southern part of the basin, a part of this water mass arrives in a southward western boundary flow along the Izu–Ogasawara–Mariana Ridge. Both hydrographic observations and moored current measurements lead to the conclusion that this water not only continues westward to the West Mariana Basin as suggested before, but also provides bottom water to the East Caroline Basin. The critical throughflow regions were identified by multibeam echosounding at the Yap Mariana Junction between the East and West Mariana Basins and at the Caroline Ridge between the East Mariana and East Caroline Basins. The throughflow is steady between the East and West Mariana Basins, whereas more variability is found at the Caroline Ridge. At both locations, throughflow fluctuations are correlated with watermass property variations suggesting layer-thickness changes. The total transport to the two neighboring basins is only about 1 Sverdrup (1Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1) but has considerable impact on the watermass structure in these basins. Estimates are given for the diapycnal mixing that is required to balance the inflow into the East Caroline Basin. Farther above in the water column, the high-silica tongue of NPDW extends from the east to the far southwestern corner of the East Mariana Basin, with transports being mostly southward across the basin.