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- Author or Editor: William Reid x
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Abstract
Frequency-wavenumber spectra of sea surface temperature and wind-stress curl are computed from 11 years of surface marine observations taken in the eastern North Pacific. These data were averaged by month and 2° quadrangles to yield spectra with periods from 2 to 48 months and zonal wavelengths from 400 to 4000 km. Spectra were computed for all 2° zonal bands between 16 and 40°N using data from the area between 120 and 160°W. Missing monthly values led to the computation of these spectra using a least-squares Fourier expansion which eliminated the need for temporal interpolation. Frequency spectra computed with this technique compare well with spectra using standard Fourier methods.
The resulting spectra were found to separate naturally into two regions; one between 29 and 40°N and the second between 15 and 29°N. Even within these zonal bands there were some important north–south changes. The annual signal was found to dominate the spectra of sea surface temperature at almost all wavelengths. The semiannual and 2-year periods were often also significant in sea surface temperature spectra. The annual peak dominated many of the wind-stress curl spectra at the longest wavelengths (∼2000–4000 km). Most of the energetic peaks in all spectra were symmetric with respect to east–west wavenumber. There were, however, some asymmetries suggesting both east and westward phase propagation. Generally, wind-stress curl spectra were white in frequency and red in wavenumber while sea surface temperature spectra were red in wavenumber but dominated by the 2-year, annual and semiannual periods in frequency.
Abstract
Frequency-wavenumber spectra of sea surface temperature and wind-stress curl are computed from 11 years of surface marine observations taken in the eastern North Pacific. These data were averaged by month and 2° quadrangles to yield spectra with periods from 2 to 48 months and zonal wavelengths from 400 to 4000 km. Spectra were computed for all 2° zonal bands between 16 and 40°N using data from the area between 120 and 160°W. Missing monthly values led to the computation of these spectra using a least-squares Fourier expansion which eliminated the need for temporal interpolation. Frequency spectra computed with this technique compare well with spectra using standard Fourier methods.
The resulting spectra were found to separate naturally into two regions; one between 29 and 40°N and the second between 15 and 29°N. Even within these zonal bands there were some important north–south changes. The annual signal was found to dominate the spectra of sea surface temperature at almost all wavelengths. The semiannual and 2-year periods were often also significant in sea surface temperature spectra. The annual peak dominated many of the wind-stress curl spectra at the longest wavelengths (∼2000–4000 km). Most of the energetic peaks in all spectra were symmetric with respect to east–west wavenumber. There were, however, some asymmetries suggesting both east and westward phase propagation. Generally, wind-stress curl spectra were white in frequency and red in wavenumber while sea surface temperature spectra were red in wavenumber but dominated by the 2-year, annual and semiannual periods in frequency.
Abstract
The waters found within the southwestern Atlantic Ocean extend into it as separate lavers with markedly different characteristics. Along the western boundary the deeper waters, derived from the North Atlantic, are warm, highly saline, oxygen-rich and nutrient-poor. This North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) lies within the density range of the Circumpolar Water (CPW) from the south, which is cooler, lower in salinity, very low in oxygen and very high in nutrients. Where the NADW and CPW meet in the southwestern Atlantic, the NADW separates the CPW into two layers above and below the NADW—each less saline, richer in nutrients and lower in oxygen than the NADW.
Above the upper branch of the CPW lies the Subantarctic Intermediate Water, which is lowest in salinity of all the layers. Beneath the lower branch of the CPW lies an abyssal layer derived from the mid-depths of the Weddell Sea. It is colder, less saline, lower in nutrients and higher in oxygen than the Circumpolar Water.
These layers appear to be separated vertically by density gradients which tend to be sharper at the interface than in the layers themselves. These maxima in stability, which result from the interleaving of water masses from different sources, extend over hundreds of kilometers: apparently vertical exchange processes are not strong enough to dissipate them.
Within the Argentine Basin the circulation of all except the abyssal layer appears to be anticyclonic and so tightly compressed against the western boundary that equatorward flow is observed just offshore of the poleward flow at the boundary. Waters from the north (within the Brazil current near the surface and from the North Atlantic at greater depths) flow southward along the western boundary and turn eastward near 40°S, part returning around the anticyclonic gyre and part joining the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Likewise the Circumpolar Waters, which have entered from the Pacific, flow northward along the western boundary to about 40°S and then turn eastward, both above and below the NADW. The abyssal waters are derived from the Weddell Sea. Within the Argentine Basin they flow northward along the western boundary and turn eastward south of the Rio Grande Rise, and then southward on the western flank of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge; the abyssal flow is cyclonic beneath the anticyclonic upper circulation.
Abstract
The waters found within the southwestern Atlantic Ocean extend into it as separate lavers with markedly different characteristics. Along the western boundary the deeper waters, derived from the North Atlantic, are warm, highly saline, oxygen-rich and nutrient-poor. This North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) lies within the density range of the Circumpolar Water (CPW) from the south, which is cooler, lower in salinity, very low in oxygen and very high in nutrients. Where the NADW and CPW meet in the southwestern Atlantic, the NADW separates the CPW into two layers above and below the NADW—each less saline, richer in nutrients and lower in oxygen than the NADW.
Above the upper branch of the CPW lies the Subantarctic Intermediate Water, which is lowest in salinity of all the layers. Beneath the lower branch of the CPW lies an abyssal layer derived from the mid-depths of the Weddell Sea. It is colder, less saline, lower in nutrients and higher in oxygen than the Circumpolar Water.
These layers appear to be separated vertically by density gradients which tend to be sharper at the interface than in the layers themselves. These maxima in stability, which result from the interleaving of water masses from different sources, extend over hundreds of kilometers: apparently vertical exchange processes are not strong enough to dissipate them.
Within the Argentine Basin the circulation of all except the abyssal layer appears to be anticyclonic and so tightly compressed against the western boundary that equatorward flow is observed just offshore of the poleward flow at the boundary. Waters from the north (within the Brazil current near the surface and from the North Atlantic at greater depths) flow southward along the western boundary and turn eastward near 40°S, part returning around the anticyclonic gyre and part joining the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Likewise the Circumpolar Waters, which have entered from the Pacific, flow northward along the western boundary to about 40°S and then turn eastward, both above and below the NADW. The abyssal waters are derived from the Weddell Sea. Within the Argentine Basin they flow northward along the western boundary and turn eastward south of the Rio Grande Rise, and then southward on the western flank of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge; the abyssal flow is cyclonic beneath the anticyclonic upper circulation.
