The Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) is manifested as a circum-global atmospheric belt of intense, moist convection and rainfall, marking the confluence of the northern and southern trades and the rising branch of the Hadley cell. It regulates the hydrologic cycle over the tropical continents and interacts tightly with the tropical oceans, notably with the seasonal appearance of the equato...

The ocean’s overturning circulation and associated heat transport are divided into contributions based on water mass ventilation from 1) shallow overturning within the wind-driven subtropical gyres to the base of the thermocline, 2) overturning into the intermediate depth layer (500–2000 m) in the North Atlantic and North Pacific, and 3) overturning into the deep layers in the North Atlantic (N...

The mechanisms affecting the path of the depth-integrated North Atlantic western boundary current and the formation of the northern recirculation gyre are investigated using a hierarchy of models, namely, a robust diagnostic model, a prognostic model using a global 1° ocean general circulation model coupled to a two-dimensional atmospheric energy balance model with a hydrological cycle, a simpl...

High resolution hydrographic observations of temperature and salinity are used to analyse the subsurface circulation along the coast of North Brazil, off the Amazon mouth, between 2 S and 6 N. Observations are presented from four cruises carried out in different periods of the year (March–May 1995, May–June 1999, July–August 2001 and October–November 1997). Numerical model outputs complement th...

Decadal and centennial mean state changes in South American summer monsoon (SASM) precipitation during the last 2,300 years are detailed using an annually resolved authigenic calcite record of precipitation δ(18)O from a varved lake in the Central Peruvian Andes. This unique sediment record shows that δ(18)O peaked during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) from A.D. 900 to 1100, providing evide...

Morphologically similar Boroecia borealis and B. maxima are redescribed from the Central Arctic. Their morphological differences are minor but well defined. Their geographic and vertical distribution is studied based on an extensive body of materials collected by many expeditions in the Arctic Ocean during the period from 1929 to 1993 at the depth range of 0-4000 m. The comparison of the distri...

Changes in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) are moderate in most climate model projections under increasing greenhouse gas forcing. This intermodel consensus may be an artifact of common model biases that favor a stable AMOC. Observationally based freshwater budget analyses suggest that the AMOC is in an unstable regime susceptible for large changes in response to perturba...

Introduced over 200 yr ago to the east coast of North America, Carcinus maenas now ranges from New York to Newfoundland. In the 1980s, a secondary invasion of European lineages, termed northern haplotypes, occurred in Nova Scotia. Young-of-the-year sampled in 2007 revealed that northern haplotypes were present in low frequencies at several northwestern Atlantic sites as far south as New York; a...

Atlantic and shortnose sturgeons are highly valued for their eggs (caviar) and flesh, but stocks of both species are depleted. The shortnose sturgeon is listed as an endangered species, and a long-term (multidecade) moratorium on fishing for Atlantic sturgeon is specified in the recently updated fishery management plan of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. Thus, identification, pr...

[1] Oxygen and carbon isotopic data were produced on the benthic foraminiferal taxa Cibicidoides and Planulina from 25 new piston cores, gravity cores, and multicores from the Brazil margin. The cores span water depths from about 400 to 3000 m and intersect the major water masses in this region. These new data fill a critical gap in the South Atlantic Ocean and provide the motivation for updati...