HR: 13:40h
AN: OS23F-01    [Abstracts]
TI: Circulation and Property Variability at 66$^{o}$W in the North Atlantic Ocean
AU: * Joyce, T M
EM: tjoyce@whoi.edu
AF: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 360 Woods Hole Rd. Mail Stop 21, Woods Hole, MA 02543 United States
AB: One of the meridional lines occupied in 1997 as part of WOCE was 66 $^{o}$W (A22) in the North Atlantic. This section, which was the only one including measurements in the Caribbean, was again repeated in 2003 as part of a global NSF/NOAA Repeat Hydrography/Carbon resurvey of the oceans. Comparison of the recent cruise with that in 1997 shows most change in the upper ocean, with reduced dissolved oxygen and thickness of the subtropical mode water: Eighteen Degree Water. Further property changes can be seen to the north of Puerto Rico in the Deep Western Boundary Current. We will also compare the zonal circulation estimated from direct velocity measurements and an inverse model conserving mass and silica. The total mass transport and that of the North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) is less "energetic" in 2003, with smaller transports in the major currents and their recirculations, although the total southward flow of NADW is ca. 16 Sv (1 Sv=10 $^{6}$ m $^{3}$/s) during both periods. Some interesting new features of the 2003 section are discussed, including upper level flows and deep ventilation of the Caribbean, and the horizontal structure of the deep-reaching (800m) direct flow measured in the Gulf Stream from the vessel-mounted ADCP.
DE: 4215 Climate and interannual variability (3309)
DE: 4243 Marginal and semienclosed seas
DE: 4532 General circulation
DE: 4536 Hydrography
DE: 1635 Oceans (4203)
SC: Ocean Sciences [OS]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting