Remote sensing of western boundary currents using acoustic tomography

1989 ◽  
Vol 86 (1) ◽  
pp. 346-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
John L. Spiesberger
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Acoustic Tomography ◽  
Western Boundary ◽  
Western Boundary Currents ◽  
Boundary Currents

scholarly journals Radiating Instability of a Meridional Boundary Current

2008 ◽  
Vol 38 (10) ◽  
pp. 2294-2307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hristina G. Hristova ◽  
Joseph Pedlosky ◽  
Michael A. Spall
Keyword(s):  
Western Boundary ◽  
Far Field ◽  
Boundary Current ◽  
Important Conclusion ◽  
Western Boundary Currents ◽  
Horizontal Structure ◽  
Boundary Currents ◽  
Zonal Jets ◽  
Eastern Boundary ◽  
Eastern Boundary Current

Abstract A linear stability analysis of a meridional boundary current on the beta plane is presented. The boundary current is idealized as a constant-speed meridional jet adjacent to a semi-infinite motionless far field. The far-field region can be situated either on the eastern or the western side of the jet, representing a western or an eastern boundary current, respectively. It is found that when unstable, the meridional boundary current generates temporally growing propagating waves that transport energy away from the locally unstable region toward the neutral far field. This is the so-called radiating instability and is found in both barotropic and two-layer baroclinic configurations. A second but important conclusion concerns the differences in the stability properties of eastern and western boundary currents. An eastern boundary current supports a greater number of radiating modes over a wider range of meridional wavenumbers. It generates waves with amplitude envelopes that decay slowly with distance from the current. The radiating waves tend to have an asymmetrical horizontal structure—they are much longer in the zonal direction than in the meridional, a consequence of which is that unstable eastern boundary currents, unlike western boundary currents, have the potential to act as a source of zonal jets for the interior of the ocean.

scholarly journals From the western boundary currents to the Pacific Equatorial Undercurrent: Modeled pathways and water mass evolutions

2011 ◽  
Vol 116 (C12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mélanie Grenier ◽  
Sophie Cravatte ◽  
Bruno Blanke ◽  
Christophe Menkes ◽  
Ariane Koch-Larrouy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Mass ◽  
Western Boundary ◽  
Western Boundary Currents ◽  
Equatorial Undercurrent ◽  
Boundary Currents ◽  
The Pacific

scholarly journals Dynamics of Separating Western Boundary Currents

1999 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilson C. A. da Silveira ◽  
Glenn R. Flierl ◽  
Wendell S. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Western Boundary ◽  
Western Boundary Currents ◽  
Boundary Currents

Observations of atmosphere-ocean coupling in midlatitude western boundary currents

1996 ◽  
Vol 101 (C3) ◽  
pp. 6295-6312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn A. Kelly ◽  
Michael J. Caruso ◽  
Sandipa Singh ◽  
Bo Qiu
Keyword(s):  
Western Boundary ◽  
Western Boundary Currents ◽  
Boundary Currents ◽  
Ocean Coupling

Mean and eddy kinetic energy of the Gulf Stream from multiyear underwater glider surveys

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert E. Todd
Keyword(s):  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Gulf Stream ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Eddy Kinetic Energy ◽  
Cape Cod ◽  
Western Boundary ◽  
Western Boundary Currents ◽  
Boundary Currents ◽  
Global Circulation Models ◽  
The North

<p>Subtropical western boundary currents play a key role in ocean energy storage and transport and are characterized by elevated mean and eddy kinetic energy. Due to a lack of spatially broad subsurface observations of velocity, most studies of kinetic energy in western boundary currents have relied on satellite-based estimates of surface geostrophic velocity. Since 2015, Spray autonomous underwater gliders have completed more than 175 crossings of the Gulf Stream distributed over more than 1,500 km in along-stream extent between between Miami, FL (~25°N) and Cape Cod, MA (~40°N). The observations include roughly 14,000 absolute ocean velocity profiles in the upper 1000 m. Novel three-dimensional estimates of mean and eddy kinetic energy are constructed along the western margin of the North Atlantic at 10-m vertical resolution. The horizontal and vertical distributions of mean and eddy kinetic energy are analyzed in light of existing independent estimates and theoretical expectations. Observation-based estimates of mean and eddy-kinetic energy such as these serve as important metrics for validation of global circulation models that must adequately represent western boundary currents.</p>

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