Abstract
CTD data from Discovery Cruise 138 of late June, 1983 in the Madeira Abyssal Plain show a strong, but isolated, Mediterranean Water (MW) signal around 35N, 25W. This water mass gives rise to an anticyclonic eddy at its southward tip and, through double diffusive processes, to modification of the density field a few hundred meters below. Current estimates have been calculated from the cruise data using the Bernoulli inverse technique. Extensions of this inverse method, which take into account the depth dependence of dynamically informative density and potential vorticity functions, are developed to investigate the flow field and the consistency of the inversions. The Bernoulli inversions all show a strong eastward current in the upper 500 m around 34–35N. In the south of our study area the upper level flow is predominantly southward, consistent with current meter records from the NEADS 1 site at 33N, 22W. It is speculated that during the summer of 1983 there was a southward excursion of the Azores Front into this area, as has been recorded in the past.
Recommended Citation
Bigg, Grant R.. 1990. "Inversions of observations near the Azores Front." Journal of Marine Research 48, (4). https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/journal_of_marine_research/1983