Premium
Gulf Stream remote forcing of shelfbreak currents in the Mid‐Atlantic Bight
Author(s) -
Bane John M.,
Brown Otis B.,
Evans Robert H.,
Hamilton Peter
Publication year - 1988
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/gl015i005p00405
Subject(s) - geology , ocean gyre , gulf stream , oceanography , continental shelf , current (fluid) , forcing (mathematics) , boundary current , ocean current , climatology , subtropics , fishery , biology
The “Slope Sea” is a narrow band of ocean that lies between the Gulf Stream and the continental shelf edge in the Mid‐Atlantic Bight. It is composed primarily of slopewater, and a closed cyclonic gyre circulates within the upper few hundred meters of its western end. A two‐year time series of current measurements in this region has shown that the southwestward flowing shelfbreak currents along the shoreward flank of the gyre are directly related to the position of the Gulf Stream, which is typically some 150 to 300 km seaward of the shelfbreak. The mean monthly shelfbreak currents are strongest, towards the southwest at about 30–40 cm s −1 , when the Stream is within 150 km of the shelf edge, whereas those currents are close to zero when the Stream is about 300 km away.