SOFAR Float Observations of an Intermediate-Depth Eastern Boundary Current and Mesoscale Variability in the Eastern Tropical Atlantic Ocean*
Open Access
- 1 June 1999
- journal article
- Published by American Meteorological Society in Journal of Physical Oceanography
- Vol. 29 (6) , 1265-1278
- https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0485(1999)029<1265:sfooai>2.0.co;2
Abstract
Two neutrally buoyant SOFAR floats vigorously looped and meandered at depths of 950–1150 m in the eastern tropical Atlantic Ocean. The float trajectories illustrate a poleward flow along the tropical eastern boundary and significant intermediate-depth mesoscale variability in the low-latitude eastern basin. One float, caught within an energetic cyclonic eddy near the eastern boundary, looped cyclonically 14 times while translating 600 km northward parallel to the African coastline. A second float, launched near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, meandered eastward with a Lagrangian zonal wavelength of 400 km and meridional amplitude exceeding 200 km. Satellite infrared imagery indicates that horizontal shear associated with the system of near-surface zonal equatorial currents may contribute to the observed intermediate-depth variability.Keywords
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