Éditeur(s) : Yale University
Résumé : Data from a hydrographic section carried out in January-March 1994 offshore from the eastern coast of South America from 50S to 10N, are used to quantify the full-depth exchanges of water between the western boundary currents and the ocean interior. In the upper and intermediate layers, the westward transport associated with the southern branch of the South Equatorial Current was 49 Sv at the time of the cruise. The transports of the central and northern branches in the upper 200 m were 17 Sv and 12 Sv, respectively. After subtraction of the parts that recirculate in the subtropical, subequatorial, and equatorial domains, the fraction of the South Equatorial Current that effectively contributes to the warm water export to the North Atlantic is estimated at 18 Sv. The poleward boundary of the current southern branch is at 31S through the whole thickness of the subtropical gyre, but the latitude of the northern boundary varies from 7 degrees 30'S at the surface to 27S at 1400 m depth. The estimated latitude of its bifurcation into the Brazil Current and North Brazil Undercurrent also varies downward from about 14S at the surface to 28S at a depth of 600 m.In the North Atlantic Deep Water, eastward flows exceeding 10 Sv are observed at 3 degrees -4 degrees of latitude in both hemispheres, at 10S, and at 34S-30S. Between 4S and 17S, a net westward flow with an estimated transport of 19 Sv reinforces the southward deep western boundary current. Cyclonic circulations of Antarctic Bottom Water along the western boundaries of the Argentine and Brazil basins have amplitudes of 15 Sv and 13 Sv, respectively, exceeding those of the interbasin exchanges. The net alongshore transport of this water mass between the hydrographic section and the continental slope reverses to a southward direction from 13S to 27S, probably in relation with an eastward shift of the equatorward near-bottom boundary current at these latitudes.
Journal of Marine Research (0022-2402) (Yale University), 2000-11 , Vol. 58 , N. 6 , P. 1007-1039

Droits : 2000 Yale University
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/2000/publication-803.pdf
DOI:10.1357/002224000763485782
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/803/

Éditeur(s) : American Geophysical Union
Résumé : Lagrangian analyses of a global ocean circulation model quantify the salinity changes experienced by the warm limb of the thermohaline circulation during the northward flow to the Atlantic deep convection regions. 6 Sv out of the estimated 10-Sv transfer from 45 degrees S to 47 degrees N flow through regions of prevailing surface evaporation: the southern and northern formation regions of Salinity Maximum Water and the Gulf of Cadiz/Mediterranean Sea domain. The remaining transport gains salinity through mixing with adjacent waters. As much as 6 Sv flow through the low-salinity surface mixed layer at the latitudes of the ITCZ whose effect annihilates that of the southern region of Salinity Maximum Water. Most of the salinity increase corresponds to the transformation of South to North Atlantic Central Water, with strong diapycnal transfers for the water that intersects the high and low salinity regions, and nearly isopycnal modifications for the water that avoids these regions.
Geophysical Research Letters ( GRL ) (0094-8276) (American Geophysical Union), 2006-03 , Vol. 33 , N. 6 , P. NIL_44-NIL_47

Droits : 2006 by the American Geophysical Union
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/2006/publication-1213.pdf
DOI:10.1029/2005GL024938
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/1213/

Éditeur(s) : American Geophysical Union
Résumé : The origins and fates of the Atlantic salinity maximum water (SMW), formed through excess evaporation in the tropics and subtropics of both hemispheres, are studied using monthly mean outputs of a numerical simulation of the world ocean climatological circulation. After defining formation domains from the surface salinity field and the vertical stratification, a Lagrangian technique is used to estimate the formation rates and main pathways in each hemisphere and the role of this water in the framework of the warm water return flow of the meridional overturning cell. Formation rates around 9 and 11 Sv are found in the Southern and Northern Hemispheres, respectively. While the export of the southern SMW from its formation area is realized by the western boundary currents, that of the northern SMW mainly results from interior subduction. Equatorward of the formation regions, a fraction of each SMW variety is entrained in the subtropical cells that connect the subtropics to the equatorial region. Poleward of them, both varieties are seen to feed the regions of subtropical mode water (STMW) formation around 35degrees of latitude in both hemispheres. The bulk of the transport associated with each variety eventually turns northward: This amounts to similar to6 Sv of southern SMW gathered in the North Brazil Undercurrent (NBUC), and similar to10 Sv of northern SMW found in the Gulf Stream at 35degreesN, of which 8 Sv have gone through the Caribbean Sea. Of the 13.4-Sv northward transport of the meridional overturning cell estimated by the model at 47degreesN, more than 50% (6.9 Sv) is found to have transited through at least one of the SMW regions. This gives an indication of the likely important role of SMW formation in the observed northward salinity increase of the upper Atlantic Ocean.
Journal of Geophysical Union - Research C - Oceans (0148-0227) (American Geophysical Union), 2002-09 , Vol. 107 , N. C10 , P. NIL_610-NIL_624

Droits : 2002 by the American Geophysical Union
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/2002/publication-769.pdf
DOI:10.1029/2002JC001318
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/769/