Geostrophy via potential vorticity inversion in the Yucatan Channel

Clicks: 1
ID: 294711
2001
Free PDF
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score — reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal

Ranked #1,354 of 1,397 articles by views in journal of marine research

Most read Least read

Bar heights use a square-root scale. Only the 120 most-read articles are drawn; the journal has 1,397 in total.

Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet minted

Create a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.

5 SUSD one-off · no wallet required
Sign in to mint
Abstract
It has become common practice to measure ocean current velocities together with the hydrography by lowering an ADCP on typical CTD casts. The velocities and densities thus observed are considered to consist mostly of a background contribution in geostrophic balance, plus internal waves and tides. A method to infer the geostrophic component by inverting the linearized potential vorticity (PV) provides plausible geostrophic density and velocity distributions. The method extracts the geostrophic balance closest to the measurements by minimizing the energy involved in the difference, supposed to consist of PV-free anomalies. The boundary conditions and the retention of PV by the geostrophic estimates follow directly from the optimization, which is based on simple linear dynamics and avoids both the use of the thermal wind equation on the measured density, and the classical problem of a reference velocity. By construction, the transport in geostrophic balance equals the measured one. Tides are the largest source of error in the calculation. The method is applied to six ADCP/CTD surveys made across the Yucatan Channel in the springs of 1997 and 1998 and in the winter of 1998 –1999. Although the time interval between sections is sometimes close to one inertial period, large variations on the order of 10 percent are found from one section to the next. Transports range from 20 to 31 Sv with a net average close to 25 Sv, consisting of 33 Sv of inflow into the Gulf of Mexico and 8 Sv of outflow into the Caribbean Sea. The highest velocities are 2.0 m sec 1 into the Gulf of Mexico near the surface on the western side of the channel, decreasing to 0.1 m sec 1 by 400 to 500 m depth. Beneath the core of the Yucatan Current a countercurrent, with speeds close to 0.2 m sec 1 and an average transport of 2 Sv, hugs the slopes of the channel from 500 to 1500 m depth. Our data show an additional 6 Sv of return flow within the same depth range over the abrupt slope near Cuba, which is likely to be the recirculating fraction of the Yucatan Current deep extention, unable to outflow through the Florida Straits. The most significant southerly flows do not occur in the deepest portion of the channel, but at depths around 1000 m.
Reference Key
openalex_W1964967225 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors José Ochoa, Julio Sheinbaum, A. Badan, Julio Candela, Doug Wilson
Journal journal of marine research
Year 2001
DOI
10.1357/002224001762674917
URL
https://doi.org/10.1357/002224001762674917
Keywords Keywords not found

Citations

No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org

Comments

No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.