Mesoscale variability in the tropical thermocline during GATE
Mesoscale variability in the tropical thermocline during GATE
Data collected in the Atlantic equatorial Counter current during GATE, using a Neil Brown,WHOI CTD Microprofiler mounted in a eatfish arc analysed for mesoscale thermchaline variability en surfaces of constant at(isopycnals). The Batfish was towed from RIGS 'Discovery' and was made to cycle between about 10 and 70 m depth, in a series of survey patterns which were advected by the surface flow.After interpolation on to surfaces of constant density, potential temperature and pressure, corrupted data were edited by inspection of the T-S relationship on isopynals.within the stratum between the mixed layer and the salinity maximum, a region stable to double-diffusive effects, histograms of isopycnic salinity show a distinct bi-modal distribution and examination of isopycnic potential temperature fluctuations reveals a mesoscale front, with vertical extent of order 10 m.An associated disturhance in the density field, manifested as a large lateral change in the vertical separation of isopycnals, occurs at the same place but is masked in a conventional examination in pressure co-ordinates by the larger internal wave signal. The front is best delineated in terms of its thermoclinicity, represented as the separation of an isopycnal and an intersecting isotherm. Overturning events are concentrated in the region of large lateral gradients of static stability which are inferred to be the sites of large quasi-geostrophic current shears. The front exists and evolves, within the 22 hours of the survey, as an adiabatic process.
University of Southampton
1978
Minnett, Peter James
(1978)
Mesoscale variability in the tropical thermocline during GATE.
University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.
Record type:
Thesis
(Doctoral)
Abstract
Data collected in the Atlantic equatorial Counter current during GATE, using a Neil Brown,WHOI CTD Microprofiler mounted in a eatfish arc analysed for mesoscale thermchaline variability en surfaces of constant at(isopycnals). The Batfish was towed from RIGS 'Discovery' and was made to cycle between about 10 and 70 m depth, in a series of survey patterns which were advected by the surface flow.After interpolation on to surfaces of constant density, potential temperature and pressure, corrupted data were edited by inspection of the T-S relationship on isopynals.within the stratum between the mixed layer and the salinity maximum, a region stable to double-diffusive effects, histograms of isopycnic salinity show a distinct bi-modal distribution and examination of isopycnic potential temperature fluctuations reveals a mesoscale front, with vertical extent of order 10 m.An associated disturhance in the density field, manifested as a large lateral change in the vertical separation of isopycnals, occurs at the same place but is masked in a conventional examination in pressure co-ordinates by the larger internal wave signal. The front is best delineated in terms of its thermoclinicity, represented as the separation of an isopycnal and an intersecting isotherm. Overturning events are concentrated in the region of large lateral gradients of static stability which are inferred to be the sites of large quasi-geostrophic current shears. The front exists and evolves, within the 22 hours of the survey, as an adiabatic process.
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Published date: 1978
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Local EPrints ID: 458499
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/458499
PURE UUID: 679f6773-81bd-44cb-a2a1-2c24240c4048
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Date deposited: 04 Jul 2022 16:50
Last modified: 04 Jul 2022 16:50
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Author:
Peter James Minnett
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