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Will Deep Subtropical Ring ‘Storm Physallv’ Cross the Mid Atlantic Ridgea and Reach America?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

R.D. Pingree ,
B. Sinha ,
A.L. New ,
I. Waddington ,
R.N. Head  and
L.V. Nechvolodov
R.D. Pingree
Affiliation:
Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth, PL1 2PB.
B. Sinha
Affiliation:
Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth, PL1 2PB.
A.L. New
Affiliation:
Southampton Oceanography Centre, Empress Dock (Dock Gate 4), European Way, Southampton, SO14 3ZH.
I. Waddington
Affiliation:
Southampton Oceanography Centre, Empress Dock (Dock Gate 4), European Way, Southampton, SO14 3ZH.
R.N. Head
Affiliation:
Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth, PL1 2PB.
L.V. Nechvolodov
Affiliation:
State Oceanographic Institute, Kropotkinsky per. 6, 119838 Moscow, Russia.
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Extract

A short research cruise was planned to trace the movement of a discrete body of water in the subtropical eastern North Atlantic Ocean. A subtropical ring or deep eddy called STORM was found budding off the Subtropical Front (STF) south-west of the Azores. A physical, chemical and biological survey to depths of 3·5 km was made of this 400 km scale body of water which was spinning cyclonically (anticlockwise). The azimuthal transport or the amount of water swirling in the eddy was 45 Sv. Storm was ‘hooked’ with ten drogued Argos buoys and a further five subsurface Alace floats were deployed. Storm is moving westward at ~3 km a day and is expected to reach the Mid Atlantic Ridge in rather less than a year unless it is destroyed by typography or reabsorbed into the Azores Current. With current technology, Storm's evolution and westward progress can be observed and analysed remotely, at a distance of ~3000 km in the laboratory. Realtime position data means that future sea surveys can be planned.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 76 , Issue 3 , August 1996 , pp. 553 - 567
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1996

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