Loop current cycle: Coupled response of the loop current with deep flows

Y. L. Chang, L. Y. Oey*

*此作品的通信作者

研究成果: 雜誌貢獻期刊論文同行評審

36 引文 斯高帕斯(Scopus)

摘要

Although the upper-layer dynamics of the Loop Current and eddies in the Gulf of Mexico are well studied, the understanding of how they are coupled to the deep flows is limited. In this work, results from a numerical model are analyzed to classify the expansion, shedding, retraction, and deep-coupling cycle (the Loop Current cycle) according to the vertical mass flux across the base of the Loop. StageAis the "Loop reforming" period, with downward flux and deep divergence under the Loop Current. Stage B is the "incipient shedding," with strong upward flux and deep convergence. Stage C is the "eddy migration," with waning upward flux and deep throughflow from the western Gulf into the Yucatan Channel. Because of the strong deep coupling between the eastern and western Gulf, the Loop's expansion is poorly correlated with deep flows through the Yucatan Channel. Stage A is longest and the mean vertical flux under the Loop Current is downward. Therefore, because the net circulation around the abyssal basin is zero, the abyssal gyre in the western Gulf is cyclonic. The gyre's strength is strongest when the Loop Current is reforming and weakest after an eddy is shed. The result suggests that the Loop Current cycle can force a low-frequency [time scales ~ shedding periods; O(months)] abyssal oscillation in the Gulf of Mexico.

原文英語
頁(從 - 到)458-471
頁數14
期刊Journal of Physical Oceanography
41
發行號3
DOIs
出版狀態已發佈 - 2011 3月

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • 海洋學

指紋

深入研究「Loop current cycle: Coupled response of the loop current with deep flows」主題。共同形成了獨特的指紋。

引用此