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Equatorial currents at 1000 m in the Atlantic Ocean
Author(s) -
Molinari Robert L.,
Garzoli Silvia L.,
Schmitt Raymond W.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/1998gl900284
Subject(s) - equator , geology , rossby wave , latitude , climatology , ocean current , oceanography , geodesy
Twenty‐seven Profiling ALACE (PALACE) floats were deployed in the equatorial Atlantic during July–August 1997. The floats were ballasted to drift at 1000 m for 10 to 14 days, return to the surface while obtaining a temperature profile, transmit data via satellite, and then after one day return to 1000 m. One‐year float paths are now available. Floats deployed on the equator were launched into a deep westward jet. The jet extends some 1°–2° north of the equator, with eastward motion observed in floats to the north of 2°N. The equatorial current reverses in the central basin to the east in mid‐October and then back to the west in mid‐February. Flow to the north also reverses. The short space and time scales contrast with earlier work based on fewer floats that inferred space scales of some 5°–10° in latitude and time scales greater than one year. The new results are consistent with models that indicate that equatorial Rossby waves are the cause of the reversing currents.