Using Argo data to investigate the Meridional Overturning Circulation in the North Atlantic
Using Argo data to investigate the Meridional Overturning Circulation in the North Atlantic
Date
2009-08-06
Authors
Hernandez-Guerra, Alonso
Joyce, Terrence M.
Fraile-Nuez, Eugenio
Velez-Belchi, Pedro
Joyce, Terrence M.
Fraile-Nuez, Eugenio
Velez-Belchi, Pedro
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Keywords
Meridional overturning circulation
Argo floats
Objective analysis
Box inverse model
Argo floats
Objective analysis
Box inverse model
Abstract
Using a variety of oceanographic data, including direct volume transports in the Florida
19 Strait, and Argo float profiles and drift velocities at 24 and 36N in the North Atlantic, inverse
calculations are presented in which the net meridional transport, 20 down to a depth of
approximately 1600 m, is estimated at both latitudes for a five year period 2003-2007. The
upper ocean is divided into 7 layers using neutral density, and mass conservation constraints
have been applied to a closed box bounded by these latitudes, including the Florida Strait.
Ekman layer transports have been included in the top-most layer, and the inverse
calculation has solved for changes from the initial reference velocities, Ekman and Florida
Strait transports, given a priori estimates on the accuracy of each of these quantities.
Solutions with and without transformations due to Mediterranean Water (MW) formation
are made. Our results indicate that 1) time-averaged transport estimates derived from Argo
have significant less eddy noise than individual hydrographic sections, 2) Argo drift velocities
provide information to the inverse solution for the ocean interior, and 3) comparison of the
total integrated interior mass transports in the thermocline waters for the period 2003-2007
with the previous estimates based on trans-ocean hydrographic sections shows that the
Meridional Overturning Circulation has not significantly changed since 1957.
Description
Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2009. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers 57 (2010): 29-36, doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2009.10.003.