Journal
DEEP-SEA RESEARCH PART I-OCEANOGRAPHIC RESEARCH PAPERS
Volume 56, Issue 12, Pages 2100-2114Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.dsr.2009.08.008
Keywords
Eddy corridor; Long-lived eddies; Eddies demography; Eddy tracking; Northeastern subtropical Atlantic
Categories
Funding
- Spanish government [CTM2004-06842, CTM2005-00444/MAR]
- US National Science Foundation [OCE 06-23011]
- NASA [NNX08AI84G]
- French CNRS
- NASA [NNX08AI84G, 100240] Funding Source: Federal RePORTER
Ask authors/readers for more resources
We report, from remote sensing and in situ observations, a new type of permanent structure in the eastern subtropical Atlantic Ocean, that we call the Canary Eddy Corridor. The phenomenon, is a zonal long-lived (>3 months) mesoscale eddy corridor, whose source is the flow perturbation of the Canary Current and the Trade Winds at the Canary Islands. The latitudinal range of the corridor spans 22 degrees N-29 degrees N and extends from the Canaries to at least 32oW, near the mid-Atlantic. This is the main region of long-lived westward-propagating eddies in the subtropical northeast Atlantic. From a age-distribution study we observe that at least 10% of mesoscale eddies in this region are long-lived, with a dominance of anticyclones over cyclones. Another four westward-propagating eddy corridors were also detected: two small corridors north and south of the Azores Front; a small zonal corridor located near 31oN, south of the island of Madeira; and a small corridor located near the Cape Blanc giant filament. The existence of these corridors may change, at least for the northeastern subtropical Atlantic, the general idea that mesoscale eddies are disorganized, ubiquitous structures in the ocean. The Canary Eddy Corridor constitutes a direct zonal pathway that conveys water mass-and biogeochemical properties offshore from the Canary Island/Northwest Africa upwelling system, and may be seen as a recurrent offshore pump of organic matter and carbon to the oligotrophic ocean interior. Estimates of volume and mass transport indicate that Canary Eddy Corridor westward transport is more than one-fourth of the southward transport of the Canary Current. The westward transport of kinetic energy by the eddies of the Canary Corridor is as important as the southward transport by the Canary Current. The total primary production related to the Corridor may be as high as the total primary production of the northwest Africa upwelling system for the same latitude range. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available