In situ observations from a 19‐month deployment of current‐ and pressure‐sensor equipped inverted echo sounders (CPIESs) along and across the Gulf Stream near Cape Hatteras capture spatial and temporal variability where this western boundary current separates from the continental margin. Regional hydrographic casts and two temperature cross‐sections spanning the Gulf Stream southeast of Cape Hatteras are used with the CPIESs' records of acoustic travel time to infer changes in thermocline depth
The relationship between Gulf Stream (GS) transport and coastal sea level is investigated using monthly GS transport between 1993 and 2019 at Florida Straits and 10 altimeter tracks. The results show that GS transport decorrelates quickly along its path, indicating it is misleading to assume that transport at a particular location represents strength of the GS as a whole. GS transport south of Cape Hatteras is significantly correlated with coastal sea level in South Atlantic Bight from both altimetry and tide gauges. North of Cape Hatteras, sea level changes associated with GS transport decay rapidly away from GS on the onshore side and become negligible approximately 300 km northwest of GS axis. In this region, the correlations between GS transport and sea level are primarily in the deep ocean and rarely on the shelf, indicating that coastal sea level is unlikely to be driven by geostrophic adjustment to changes in GS transport.
more » « less- PAR ID:
- 10419881
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.1029
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Volume:
- 50
- Issue:
- 9
- ISSN:
- 0094-8276
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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