HR: 1400h
AN: OS53A-01    [Abstracts]
TI: On the Squeezing of the North Brazil Current Rings Through the Lesser Antilles as Observed From Satellite Data
AU: Bulgakov, S N
EM: sbulgako@cencar.udg.mx
AF: Institute of Astronomy and Meteorology, Guadalajara University, Av. Vallarta 2602, Sector Juarez, Guadalajara, Jal 44130, Mexico
AU: * Cruz Gomez, R C
EM: rcruz@ola.icmyl.unam.mx
AF: Institute of Marine Sciences and Limnology, UNAM, Circuito Exterior s/n, Cd. Universitaria, Mexico, D.F 04510, Mexico
AB: The North Brazil Current Rings (NBCR) penetration into the Caribbean Sea is being investigated employing a merged altimeter-derived sea height anomaly (TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1 and ERS-1,2), the ocean surface color data (SeaWiFS) and Global Drifter Program information. Four strategies are being applied to process the data: (1) calculations of Okubo-Weiss parameter for NBCR identification, (2) longitude-time plots (also known as Hovmöller diagrams), (3) two-dimensional Radon transforms and (4) two-dimensional Fourier transforms. A twofold NBCR structure has been detected in the region under investigation. The results have shown that NBC rings mainly propagate into the Caribbean Sea along two principal pathways (near 12ºN and 17ºN) in the ring translation corridor. Thus, rings following the southern pathway in the fall-winter period can enter through very shallow southern straits as non-coherent structures. A different behavior is observed near the northern pathway (near 17ºN), where NBC rings are thought to have a coherent structure during their squeezing into the eastern Caribbean, i.e. conserving the principal characteristics of the incident rings. We attribute this difference in the rings' behavior to the vertical scales of the rings and to the bottom topography features in the vicinity of the Lesser Antilles.
DE: 4500 OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL
DE: 4520 Eddies and mesoscale processes
SC: Ocean Sciences [OS]
MN: 2007 Joint Assembly