The PRIME Eddy

摘要

An intrathermocline lens with strong anticyclonic circulation and cold surface temperature anomaly (-1℃) is reported in the Iceland Basin at 59.1N 20W. The lens is 1000 m thick, 120 km wide and centered on the 27.45 σ_o isopycnal at 700m. Its influence, through distortion of density surfaces, is felt throughout the 2800 m water column. At the surface this leads to a shallower mixed layer within the eddy which will have an impact on the local planktonic ecology. At a depth of 700 m and a radius of 40 km the eddy circulation has an azimuthal velocity of ～40 cm s~-1. This flow has a strong barotropic component.