HR: 17:50h
AN: OS54A-07    [Abstracts]
TI: Three-Layer Regime of the Water-Column in the Central Gulf of Mexico
AU: * Rivas, D
EM: drivas@cicese.mx
AF: CICESE, Depto. Oceanografia Fisica Apdo. postal 360, Ensenada, BC 22800, Mexico
AU: Badan, A
EM: abadan@cicese.mx
AF: CICESE, Depto. Oceanografia Fisica Apdo. postal 360, Ensenada, BC 22800, Mexico
AU: Ochoa, J
EM: jochoa@cicese.mx
AF: CICESE, Depto. Oceanografia Fisica Apdo. postal 360, Ensenada, BC 22800, Mexico
AU: Sheinbaum, J
EM: julios@cicese.mx
AF: CICESE, Depto. Oceanografia Fisica Apdo. postal 360, Ensenada, BC 22800, Mexico
AU: Candela, J
EM: jcandela@cicese.mx
AF: CICESE, Depto. Oceanografia Fisica Apdo. postal 360, Ensenada, BC 22800, Mexico
AB: Recent observational results have shown that the water column in the Gulf of Mexico is characterized by different hydrographic and diffusive regimes into three layers. The variability within the upper layer (above the sill level at the Florida Straits, ~ 700 m depth), is driven mostly by the mesoscale eddies shed from the Loop Current, which dominate the 20 to 150 day spectral band. An intermediate layer, extending from about 700 m to about 1300 m depth, is a transitional zone that connects the near-surface dynamics with that of the lower layer, which extends from 1300 m depth to the bottom (~ 4000 m). Although it is forced by the layers above, this lower layer is dominated by bottom-trapped motions, possibly Topographic Rossby Waves, centered at the 20-60 day spectral band and whose decaying scale exceeds 1000 m.
DE: 4515 Deep recirculations
DE: 4520 Eddies and mesoscale processes
DE: 4562 Topographic/bathymetric interactions
SC: Ocean Sciences [OS]
MN: 2007 Joint Assembly