• Login
    About WHOAS
    View Item 
    •   WHOAS Home
    • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
    • Physical Oceanography (PO)
    • View Item
    •   WHOAS Home
    • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
    • Physical Oceanography (PO)
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

    All of WHOASCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesKeywordsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesKeywords

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics

    The interaction of recirculation gyres and a deep boundary current

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    jpo-d-17-0206.1.pdf (7.448Mb)
    Date
    2018-03-06
    Author
    Le Bras, Isabela A.  Concept link
    Jayne, Steven R.  Concept link
    Toole, John M.  Concept link
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Citable URI
    https://hdl.handle.net/1912/10366
    As published
    https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-17-0206.1
    DOI
    10.1175/JPO-D-17-0206.1
    Keyword
     Boundary currents; Meridional overturning circulation; Mesoscale processes; Ocean circulation; Potential vorticity; Quasigeostrophic models 
    Abstract
    Motivated by the proximity of the Northern Recirculation Gyre and the deep western boundary current in the North Atlantic, an idealized model is used to investigate how recirculation gyres and a deep flow along a topographic slope interact. In this two-layer quasigeostrophic model, an unstable jet imposed in the upper layer generates barotropic recirculation gyres. These are maintained by an eddy-mean balance of potential vorticity (PV) in steady state. The authors show that the topographic slope can constrain the northern recirculation gyre meridionally and that the gyre’s adjustment to the slope leads to increased eddy PV fluxes at the base of the slope. When a deep current is present along the topographic slope in the lower layer, these eddy PV fluxes stir the deep current and recirculation gyre waters. Increased proximity to the slope dampens the eddy growth rate within the unstable jet, altering the geometry of recirculation gyre forcing and leading to a decrease in overall eddy PV fluxes. These mechanisms may shape the circulation in the western North Atlantic, with potential feedbacks on the climate system.
    Description
    Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2018. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 48 (2018): 573-590, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-17-0206.1.
    Collections
    • Physical Oceanography (PO)
    Suggested Citation
    Journal of Physical Oceanography 48 (2018): 573-590
     

    Related items

    Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

    • Thumbnail

      Abyssal circulation driven by near-boundary mixing: water mass transformations and interior stratification 

      Drake, Henri F.; Ferrari, Raffaele; Callies, Joern (American Meteorological Society, 2020-07-24)
      The emerging view of the abyssal circulation is that it is associated with bottom-enhanced mixing, which results in downwelling in the stratified ocean interior and upwelling in a bottom boundary layer along the insulating ...
    • Thumbnail

      Potential vorticity structure in the North Atlantic western boundary current from underwater glider observations 

      Todd, Robert E.; Owens, W. Brechner; Rudnick, Daniel L. (American Meteorological Society, 2016-01)
      Potential vorticity structure in two segments of the North Atlantic’s western boundary current is examined using concurrent, high-resolution measurements of hydrography and velocity from gliders. Spray gliders occupied 40 ...
    • Thumbnail

      Some dynamical constraints on upstream pathways of the Denmark Strait Overflow 

      Yang, Jiayan; Pratt, Lawrence J. (American Meteorological Society, 2014-12)
      The East Greenland Current (EGC) had long been considered the main pathway for the Denmark Strait overflow (DSO). Recent observations, however, indicate that the north Icelandic jet (NIJ), which flows westward along the ...
    All Items in WHOAS are protected by original copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated. WHOAS also supports the use of the Creative Commons licenses for original content.
    A service of the MBLWHOI Library | About WHOAS
    Contact Us | Send Feedback | Privacy Policy
    Core Trust Logo