Lateral Mixing Processes in the Gulf Stream

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Abstract
An oceanographic section across a large Gulf Stream meander was completed in April 1974. Evidence is presented for at least two mechanisms of cross-stream exchange. Intrusions of warm Gulf Stream water into the Slope Water region in the upper 50–100 m are documented and compare well with surface temperature patterns observed by satellite. A crude estimate based on 18 satellite observations over two periods, each of two-months duration, suggests that this mechanism may extrude as much as 4 × 105 m3 s−1 into the Slope Water. This could produce a cross-stream temperature transport of as much as 1.6°C cm s−1. Temperature structure in the main thermocline of the front between 10 and 19°C sums to indicate strong cross-stream interleaving. One possible interpretation is that there is a cross-stream cellular circulation with a vertical length scale of ∼250 m. Such a circulation could be induced by cross-stream accelerations due to curvature in the meander.

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