OBSERVATIONS OF THE BRAZIL CURRENT BAROCLINIC TRANSPORT NEAR 22~OS: VARIABILITY FROM THE AX97 XBT TRANSECT AND SATELLITE ALTIMETRY

摘要

Recent progress in understanding the Brazil Current (BC) mean flow and associated features has been achieved, however, several aspects of BC mid-latitude variability remain unexplained mostly due to the lack of observations. The BC variability near 22°S can be as large as the mean flow and in order to increase the number of observations of the BC, Brazilian institutions and NOAA have partnered to implement a long-term high-density XBT (eXpendable-BathyThermograph) transect in the southwestern Atlantic. This project has been named MOVAR (Monitoring the upper ocean transport variability in the western South Atlantic) and the XBT transect has been designated as AX97. This study uses the first 32 transects of the AX97 line to infer about the BC transports and aspects of its variability. With respect to latter, there is evidence of links with the South Atlantic subtropical gyre fluctuation.