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2002 LAPCOD Meeting
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Looping ACCE RAFOS Floats in Eddies
P. L. Richardson, D. Slater, A. S. Bower, H. T. Rossby
WHOI, Woods Hole, MA 02543, US
prichardson@whoi.edu(Abstract received 10/29/2002 for session A)
ABSTRACT
ACCE RAFOS float trajectories near the 27.5 density level were analyzed to investigate discrete eddies in the northern North Atlantic with the objective of determining their geographical distribution and characteristics. Floats that made two or more consecutive loops in the same direction (loopers) were considered to have been in an eddy. Overall 16% (25 float years) of the float data were in loopers. One hundred eight loopers were identified in 96 different eddies. Roughly half of the eddies were cyclonic (49%) and half were anticyclonic (51%), although the percentages varied in different regions. Some eddies were stationary for long times (over a year) and others clearly translated, often in the direction of the general circulation as observed by non-looping floats. Several floats were trapped in eddies just upstream (west) of the Charlie Gibbs (52°N) and Faraday (50°N) Fracture Zones which seem to be preferred routes for flow crossing the mid-Atlantic Ridge. Six floats looped in five anticyclones which translated southwestward away from the eastern boundary near the Goban Spur near 47°N-50°N. These could have been weak Meddies forming from remnants of warm salty Med Water advected northward along the eastern boundary.
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2002 LAPCOD Meeting, Key Largo, Florida, December 12-16, 2000