(
2004-10-29)
Shoosmith, Deborah R.; Richardson, Philip L.; Bower, Amy S.; Rossby, H. Thomas
RAFOS float trajectories near the 27.5 density level were analyzed to investigate discrete
eddies in the northern North Atlantic with the objective of determining their geographical
distribution and characteristics. Floats that made two or more consecutive loops in the
same direction (loopers) were considered to have been in an eddy. Overall 15% (24 float
years) of the float data were in loopers. One hundred and eight loopers were identified in
96 different eddies. Roughly half of the eddies were cyclonic (49%) and half were
anticyclonic (51%), although the percentages varied in different regions. A few eddies
were quasi-stationary for long times, one for over a year in the Iceland Basin, and many
others clearly translated, often in the direction of the general circulation as observed by
non-looping floats. Several floats were trapped in eddies in the vicinity of the North
Atlantic Current just upstream (west) of the Charlie Gibbs (52ºN) and Faraday (50ºN)
Fracture Zones, which seem to be preferred routes for flow crossing the mid-Atlantic
ridge. Five floats looped in four anticyclones which translated southwestward away from
the eastern boundary near the Goban Spur (47ºN-50ºN). These could have been weak
meddies forming from remnants of warm salty Mediterranean Water advected northward
along the eastern boundary.
