Diapycnal mixing in the Brazil-Malvinas confluence front

Roget, Elena; Pelegrí, Josep Lluís; Planella-Morato, Jesús; Puigdefàbregas, Joan; Emelianov, Mikhail; Vallès‐Casanova, Ignasi; Orúe‐Echevarría, Dorleta

doi:10.1016/j.pocean.2023.102968

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…The increase in vertical shear is an important source of turbulence. Previously, it was shown that high dissipation rates coincide with high vertical shear in the BMC Zone (Roget et al., 2023). In the studied eddies, very high values of vertical shear, exceeding 0.3 × 10 −3 s −1 , are observed down to a depth of 500 m. This indicates that eddies can significantly affect the diapycnal turbulent exchange, especially on their southern periphery.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Dynamic Structure of Eddies of the Brazil‐Malvinas Confluence Zone Revealed by Direct Measurements and Satellite Altimetry

Frey,

Kubryakov

2023

JGR Oceans

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The goal of this work is to study the dynamical structure of eddies of the Brazil‐Malvinas Confluence zone (BMC eddies) using direct velocity measurements carried out by Shipborne Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler during five oceanographic cruises performed in 2016–2022. In total, in situ data of 13 BMC eddies, including nine anticyclones and four cyclones are available. These data show that the orbital velocity in such eddies can reach 189 cm/s and their vertical structure is highly barotropic. In several eddies, the velocities exceeding 100 cm/s are observed down to a depth of 560 m and at a depth of 800 m they are still higher than 80 cm/s. The spatial structure of velocity and horizontal shear in the eddies is strongly asymmetric, with higher velocities in the southern part near the intense thermohaline BMC front. Altimetry data show qualitative agreement with in situ data, but underestimate the horizontal velocity shear and the maximum velocities at the periphery of the BMC eddies. We also use satellite altimetry and Argo float measurements to study these eddies, and estimate their impact on the thermohaline structure. The analysis shows that the eddies with orbital velocities exceeding 100 cm/s cause intense temperature and salinity anomalies reaching 7–9°C and 1 psu in anticyclones and −4°C and 0.8 psu in cyclones at 100–300 m depth.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%