RT journal article
T1 A Glider View of the Spreading and Mixing Processes of Antarctic Intermediate Water in the Northeastern Subtropical Atlantic
A1 Jiménez Rincón, Juán Alberto
A1 Cianca, Andrés
A1 Ferrero Martín, Carmen
A1 Izquierdo González, Alfredo
A2 Física Aplicada
K1 AAIW
K1 water mass
K1 glider
K1 canary basin
K1 mixing
K1 Atlantic Ocean
K1 mesoscale
K1 submesoscale
AB The Antarctic IntermediateWater (AAIW), one of the most important global intermediatewater masses, spreads over the world ocean. Its propagation limit at the Northeast SubtropicalAtlantic is characterized by its encounter with the Mediterranean Water (MW), which presentsdissimilar thermohaline properties. Previous studies of the AAIW in this region have been based ontraditional oceanographic cruise observations, which were later complemented by observations usingautonomous systems such as ARGO floats. However, these observations present limitations for thestudy of processes occurring at mesoscale and smaller scales. In this study, we used high-resolutionobservations made by cutting edge platforms such as underwater gliders. Specifically, a meridionalglider section realized in spring 2016 between the islands of Madeira and Gran Canaria has beenused. The temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen minima have allowed the detection of theAAIW signal north of the Canarian archipelago and significantly westward from its main northwardpropagation pathway in this region. The results of this work have shown that the encounter ofAAIW and MW generates thermohaline intrusions or interleaving layers. It is suggested that doublediffusion processes may play a role in the development of these structures, which may be importantfor water masses mixing and, therefore, in determining the northward spreading boundary of AAIW.The use of the high-resolution glider observations combined with other data products is essential forthe study of water masses and dynamics when relevant processes have a wide range of scales.
PB MDPI
SN 2077-1312
YR 2023
FD 2023
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/32037
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/32037
LA eng
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 10-may-2026