Mesoscale Atlantic water eddy off the Laptev Sea continental slope carries the signature of upstream interactionстатья
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Аннотация:A mesoscale eddy formed by the interaction of inflows of Atlantic water (AW) from
Fram Strait and the Barents Sea into the Arctic Ocean was observed in February 2005
off the Laptev Sea continental slope by a mooring equipped with a McLane Moored
Profiler. The eddy was composed of two distinct, vertically aligned cores with a combined
thickness of about 650 m. The upper core of approximately ambient density was
warmer (2.6°C), saltier (34.88 psu), and vertically stably stratified. The lower core was
cooler (0.1°C), fresher (34.81 psu), neutrally stratified and 0.02 kg/m3 less dense than
surrounding ambient water. The eddy, homogeneous out to a radius of at least 3.4 km,
had a 14.5 km radius of maximum velocity, and an entire diameter of about 27 km.
We hypothesize that the eddy was formed by the confluence of the Fram Strait and Barents
Sea AW inflows into the Arctic Ocean that takes place north of the Kara Sea, about
1100 km upstream from the mooring location. The eddy’s vertical structure is likely
maintained by salt fingering and diffusive convection. The numerical simulation of
one-dimensional thermal and salt diffusion equations reasonably reproduces the evolution
of the eddy thermohaline patterns from the hypothesized source area to the mooring
location, suggesting that the vertical processes of double-diffusive and shear instabilities
may be more important than lateral processes for the evolution of the eddy. The
eddy is able to carry its thermohaline anomaly several thousand kilometers
downstream from its source location.