Collaborative Research: A Study of the Role of Eddies in Agulhas Leakage and the Circulation in the Southeastern Atlantic using KAPEX Float Data

Woodwell Climate Research Center, Inc., Falmouth MA

Investigators

Abstract

0236527/ 0236654 Richardson/Wooding This project consists of an analysis of the trajectories of RAFOS floats, deployed as part of the KAPEX experiment around the southern tip of Africa, in combination with ancillary data from surface drifters and satellite-borne altimeters. Preliminary analysis of these trajectories show that many of them were trapped in Agulhas eddies. A motivation for this work is the belief that Agulhas eddies both provide a significant conduit for flow from the Indian Ocean into the Atlantic and stir the ocean in the south-eastern Atlantic. The proposed analysis seeks to summarize the life history and statistics (including: number, size, swirl velocity, translational velocity, and the interactions of eddies with each other and with bathymetry). The investigator will compare the details of the trajectories with output from various numerical models of the region and collaborate with a German investigator in mapping the intermediate-depth velocity field in the S. Atlantic.