Interaction of Agulhas filaments with mesoscale turbulence: a case study
Interaction of Agulhas filaments with mesoscale turbulence: a case study
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厄加勒斯细丝与中尺度湍流的相互作用：案例研究
DOI：
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发表时间：
2008
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
F. Shillington
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
C. Whittle;J. Lutjeharms;C. M. Rae;F. Shillington
南印度洋和南大西洋之间热量和盐分的跨洋泄漏对全球热盐环流，特别是对整个大西洋翻转强度具有重要影响。这两个副热带环流之间的这种泄漏发生在非洲南部。主要机制是厄加勒斯洋流折回处间歇性地脱落厄加勒斯环，以及厄加勒斯洋流边界处的厄加勒斯流丝平流，两者都向西北方向移动进入南大西洋。过去几年对厄加勒斯环随后的行为和混合进行了大量研究，而对厄加勒斯流丝则完全没有研究。我们在此报告一次偶然的水文观测，观测对象是一个厄加勒斯流丝在形成后不久与一些中尺度特征相互作用的行为。这表明厄加勒斯流丝可能涉及许多其他环流要素，而不仅仅像先前推测的那样只与本格拉上升流锋有关，并且可能在一个非常特定的区域混合消失。
The inter-ocean leakage of heat and salt from the South Indian Ocean to the South Atlantic has important consequences for the global thermohaline circulation and in particular for the strength of overturning of the Atlantic Ocean as a whole. This leakage between these two subtropical gyres takes place south of Africa. The main mechanisms are the intermittent shedding of Agulhas rings from the retroflection of the Agulhas Current and the advection of Agulhas filaments from the border of the Agulhas Current, both of which move northwestward into the South Atlantic. The subsequent behaviour and mixing of Agulhas rings has been much studied over the past years, that of Agulhas filaments not at all. We report here on fortuitous hydrographic observations of the behaviour of an Agulhas filament that interacted with a number of mesoscale features shortly after formation. This suggests that Agulhas filaments may be involved in many other circulation elements and not only the Benguela upwelling front, as was surmised previously, and may mix out in a very site-specific region.