South Atlantic Interocean Linkages Study (SAILS)

Oregon State University, Corvallis OR

Investigators

Abstract

0118363 Matano/OSU The purpose of the is project is to use numerical modeling to examine the routes by which the upper return flow in the South Atlantic carries heat and salt across the basin and the role that mesoscale eddies play in this transport. First, diagnostic studies of existing global and Atlantic simulations will be made. This will be followed by process studies designed to test hypotheses about the paths of Pacific and Indian Ocean upper thermocline waters through the South Atlantic to the tropics. The project's broad goals are: (1) to understand how changes in magnitude of southern sources of water, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and the Agulhas Current, affect the magnitude and relative composition of South Atlantic upper ocean export to the tropics, (2) to understand the mechanisms that regulate the mean circulation and variability of the subtropical gyre and their linkage to interocean exchanges, and (3) to determine the sensitivity of the South Atlantic circulation to changes in wind forcing in the southern hemisphere.