Collaborative Research: Warm Water Pathways and Intergyre Exchange in the Northeastern North Atlantic

在这个项目中，pi将研究北大西洋洋流，它从墨西哥湾流向东北输送亚热带水，以及向极地东部边界洋流，它沿着欧洲大陆斜坡向北输送地中海流出水。这两个洋流系统被认为是两个最有可能的温暖咸水来源，这些咸水在亚极地地区转化为中水和深水。具体目标是：1)对中大西洋洋脊以东的北大西洋洋流分岔进行定量描述；2)对比大尺度平流，评价了经向涡旋通量在北大西洋东北部向北热盐通量中的重要性；3)确定东极边界流与挪威海入口的连续性程度，以及该流携带的地中海流出水的命运。为了达到这些目标，将在北大西洋东部海盆共部署68个声学跟踪RAFOS浮标，其中40个在北大西洋海流内及其附近，28个在东部边界附近。浮标将在水下漂流两年，采样三个冷却季节，使用系泊的声源每天提供一次跟踪。这项研究是对美国大西洋环流和气候实验（ACCE）和国际世界海洋环流实验（WOCE）的贡献。高分辨率RAFOS浮标将专门处理具有相对较短时间和/或空间尺度的环流的重要特征，如分岔、涡流混合和边界流动。

9531877 Bower In this project, the PIs will study the North Atlantic Current, which transports subtropical water northeastward from the Gulf Stream, and the Poleward Eastern Boundary Current, which carries Mediterranean Outflow Water northward along the European continental slope. These two current systems are thought to be the two most likely sources of warm, salty water that is transformed into intermediate and deep water in the subpolar region. Specific objectives are to: 1) provide a quantitative description of the bifurcation of the North Atlantic Current east of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge; 2) assess the importance of meridional eddy fluxes, compared to large-scale advection, in the northward flux of heat and salt in the northeastern North Atlantic; and 3) establish the degree of continuity of the Poleward Eastern Boundary Current to the entrance to the Norwegian Sea and the fate of the Mediterranean Outflow Water carried by this current. To meet these objectives, a total of 68 isopycnal, acoustically-tracked RAFOS floats will be deployed in the eastern Basin of the North Atlantic, forty in and adjacent to the North Atlantic Current, and twenty-eight near the eastern boundary. The floats will drift submerged for two years, sampling three cooling seasons, with tracking provided once daily using moored sound sources. This study is a contribution to the US Atlantic Circulation and Climate Experiment (ACCE), and to the International World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE). The high-resolution RAFOS floats will specifically address important features of the circulation that have relatively short time and/or spatial scales, such as bifurcations, eddy mixing and boundary flows.