2024-03-28T18:59:05Zhttp://digital.csic.es/dspace-oai/requestoai:digital.csic.es:10261/1344542020-11-10T09:37:40Zcom_10261_123com_10261_8col_10261_376
2016-07-05T10:54:26Z
urn:hdl:10261/134454
Vertical alignment of the Gulf Stream
Ratsimandresy, A. W.
Pelegrí, Josep Lluís
10 pages, 10 figures
A historical set of expendable bathythermograph (XBT) and Pegasus sections across the Gulf Stream in natural coordinates is examined to investigate the isopycnic structure of the current off Cape Hatteras. In isopycnic-natural coordinates, the axis of the Stream remains vertically aligned, in contrast to its well-known offshore tilting when plotted as a function of depth. These results are confirmed using the geostrophic velocities obtained from a synthetic temperature field for the Gulf Stream. We prove that a baroclinic current aligned with density cannot be aligned with depth, and vice versa, and we show that the density alignment of the Gulf Stream results from the distortion of the density field and has negligible dependence on the choice of reference level. The invariable character of intense geophysical jets is supported through analogous representations for the upper level atmospheric jet stream in isentropic coordinates. These show that the atmospheric jet, when plotted on to a section normal to the direction of its maximum velocity core, is vertically aligned with potential temperature. Copyright © Blackwell Munksgaard, 2005
2016-07-05T10:54:26Z
2016-07-05T10:54:26Z
2005
2016-07-05T10:54:26Z
artículo
Tellus, Series A: Dynamic Meteorology and Oceanography 57(4): 691-700 (2005)
http://hdl.handle.net/10261/134454
10.1111/j.1600-0870.2005.00115.x
eng
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0870.2005.00115.x
Sí
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
openAccess
International Meteorological Institute in Stockholm