Surface drifter pathways originating in the equatorial Atlantic cold tongue

[1] Subtropical cells (STCs) connect subduction zones of the eastern subtropics of both hemispheres to the equatorial current systems via equatorward flow in the thermocline. Some of this thermocline water is converted back into warm near-surface water in the eastern equatorial cold tongue from whence it is exported poleward. Here we examine the export pathways from the cold tongue in the Atlantic based on recently available near-surface drifter data. We find that, similar to its Pacific counterpart, water upwelled in the Atlantic cold tongue follows multiple pathways back into the subtropics, but not directly to the subduction zones. Thus the subtropical cells are open to extensive influence from, and exchange with, the subtropical and midlatitude ocean.