Dynamics of Separating Western Boundary Currents

Intensified Diapycnal Mixing in the Midlatitude Western Boundary Currents

The wind work on oceanic near-inertial motions is suggested to play an important role in furnishing the diapycnal mixing in the deep ocean which affects the uptake of heat and carbon by the ocean as well as climate changes. However, it remains a puzzle where and through which route the near-inertial energy penetrates into the deep ocean. Using the measurements collected in the Kuroshio extensio...

Enhanced warming over the global subtropical western boundary currents

Subtropical western boundary currents are warm, fast-flowing currents that form on the western side of ocean basins. They carry warm tropical water to the mid-latitudes and vent large amounts of heat and moisture to the atmosphere along their paths, affecting atmospheric jet streams and mid-latitude storms, as well as ocean carbon uptake1–4. The possibility that these highly energetic currents ...

On the Steadiness of Separating Meandering Currents

The existence of inertial steady currents that separate from a coast and meander afterward is investigated. By integrating the zonal momentum equation over a suitable area, it is shown that retroflecting currents cannot be steady in a reduced gravity or in a barotropic model of the ocean. Even friction cannot negate this conclusion. Previous literature on this subject, notably the discrepancy b...

From the western boundary currents to the Pacific Equatorial Undercurrent: Modeled pathways and water mass evolutions

Propagation of Tracer Signals in Boundary Currents

The propagation of a range of tracer signals in a simple model of the deep western boundary current is examined. Analytical expressions are derived in certain limits for the transit-time distributions and the propagation times (tracer ages) of tracers with exponentially growing or periodic concentration histories at the boundary current’s origin. If mixing between the boundary current and the s...