Publication Date:
2022-08-25
Description:
© The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Seim, H., Savidge, D., Andres, M., Bane, J., Edwards, C., Gawarkiewicz, G., He, R., Todd, R., Muglia, M., Zambon, J., Han, L., & Mao, S. Overview of the Processes driving Exchange at Cape Hatteras Program. Oceanography, (2022),
https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2022.205.
Description:
The Processes driving Exchange At Cape Hatteras (PEACH) program seeks to better understand seawater exchanges between the continental shelf and the open ocean near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. This location is where the Gulf Stream transitions from a boundary-trapped current to a free jet, and where robust along-shelf convergence brings cool, relatively fresh Middle Atlantic Bight and warm, salty South Atlantic Bight shelf waters together, forming an important and dynamic biogeographic boundary. The magnitude of this convergence implies large export of shelf water to the open ocean here. Background on the oceanography of the region provides motivation for the study and gives context for the measurements that were made. Science questions focus on the roles that wind forcing, Gulf Stream forcing, and lateral density gradients play in driving exchange. PEACH observational efforts include a variety of fixed and mobile observing platforms, and PEACH modeling included two different resolutions and data assimilation schemes. Findings to date on mean circulation, the nature of export from the southern Middle Atlantic Bight shelf, Gulf Stream variability, and position variability of the Hatteras Front are summarized, together with a look ahead to forthcoming analyses.
Description:
We gratefully acknowledge NSF funding (OCE-1558920 to UNC-CH, OCE-1559476 to SkIO, OCE-1558521 to WHOI, OCE-1559178 to NCSU); technical support from Sara Haines, Craig Marquette, Trip Patterson, Nick DeSimone, Erran Sousa, Gabe Matthias, Patrick Deane, Brian Hogue, Frank Bahr, and Ben Hefner; cruise participants Jacob Forsyth, Joleen Heiderich, Chuxuan Li, Marco Valero, Lauren Ball, John McCord, and Kyle Maddux-Lawrence; and the crew of R/V Armstrong for their able support during three PEACH cruises.
Repository Name:
Woods Hole Open Access Server
Type:
Article
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