Surface currents in the tropical Atlantic across high density XBT line AX08

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Read Full Article (file size: 512946 bytes) Cited by GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 29, NO. 24, 2218, doi:10.1029/2002GL015873, 2002 Surface currents in the tropical Atlantic across high density XBT line AX08 Gustavo J. Goni National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, Miami, Florida, USA Molly O. Baringer National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, Miami, Florida, USA Abstract Three temperature sections that cross the tropical Atlantic obtained from high density XBT transects are used to identify the major surface currents and to compute their water mass transports. The dynamic heights are computed using XBT temperature profiles with salinity derived from historical T-S relationships. The values of dynamic height estimated from altimeter data used in conjunction with climatological dynamic height fields are within 3 cm of the XBT-derived values. The error in XBT-derived dynamic height introduced by using historical T-S relationships instead of actual salinity values are estimated to be of the order of 1.5 cm. Dynamic height estimates using the actual salinity values underestimate those obtained using historical T-S relationships. The structure exhibited in the dynamic height and altimeter-derived sea height fields do not reveal all the upper ocean currents, making these temperature sections presented here critical for computing transports and identifying currents in this region. Published 27 December 2002. Index Terms: 4512 Oceanography: Physical: Currents; 4536 Oceanography: Physical: Hydrography; 4532 Oceanography: Physical: General circulation; 4283 Oceanography: General: Water masses. Read Full Article (file size: 512946 bytes) Cited by Citation: Goni, G. J., and M. O. Baringer (2002), Surface currents in the tropical Atlantic across high density XBT line AX08, Geophys. Res. Lett., 29(24), 2218, doi:10.1029/2002GL015873. This paper is not subject to U.S. copyright. Published in 2002 by the American Geophysical Union.

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