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Observations of a Loop Current Frontal Eddy Intrusion Onto the West Florida Shelf

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Observations of a Loop Current Frontal Eddy Intrusion Onto the West Florida Shelf JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 88, NO. C14, PAGES 9639-9651, NOVEMBER 20, 1983 Observationsof a Loop Current Frontal Eddy IntrusionOnto the West Florida Shelf THERESAPALUSZKIEWICZ AND LARRY P. ATKINSON SkidawayInstitute of Oceanography ERIC $. POSMENTIER SouthamptonCollege CHARLES R. M CCLAIN NASA GoddardSpace Flight Center Hydrographicand satellitedata from the westFlorida shelf between April 1-7, 1982showed the intrusionof a LoopCurrent frontal eddy onto the shelf. Data were examined to describethe structure of thisfeature and studyeffects of its intrusionon watermasses in the outershelf region. A frontaleddy, consistingof a warmfilament separated from the main current by a regionof coolerwater, propagated southeastwardat 30 cm/sintruding onto the shelf near 26øN between April 4 and6. Temperature-salinity (T-S)properties revealed that water in thefilament was Loop Current water that had been contiguous with 80 m deeperLoop Current water in the mainbody of the current;water in the coldregion was ContinentalEdge water, a transitionalwater mass with cooler, fresher T-S characteristics.Upwelling of deeperLoop Current water occurred under this region, and elevated nutrient concentrations were found in theupwelled dome under the cold region. Interleaving occurred along water mass boundaries enabling theexchange of heatand salt. This mixing and the supply of cool,nutrient-rich water to theouter shelf wasthe majorconsequence of the intrusion.The lengthscale and speedof thisLoop Current frontal eddywas similar to GulfStream frontal eddies through the upwelling was not as intense as in intrusions of Gulf Stream frontal eddies. INTRODUCTION cyloniceddies usually move northward or westward[Leipper, The interactionof oceanicboundary currentsand adjacent 1970] the cycloniceddies appear to impinge on the west Flo- shelfwaters dominates the hydrography,circulation, and pro- rida shelf [lchiye et al., 1973]. The boundary of the Loop ductivityof outershelf waters. Boundary current variability is Current is perturbed by finger and eddy-like features which a major causeof accompanyingvariations in adjacentconti- possiblyfacilitate the interaction and exchangeof Loop Cur- nental shelfwaters and to a large extent thesecurrent/shelf rent waters and shelf waters [Merrell et al., 1976; Austin and water interactionsoccur through the intrusion of eddies, Jones, 1974; Rinkel, 1971]. Other evidence of interactions of meanders,and other fluctuationsof the mean currentposition the Loop Current with the west Florida shelf waters has been and flow. There is evidenceof thesetypes of interactionsalong shown by Niiler [1976], Vukovichet al., [1979], and Huh et al. the southeastern U.S. shelf and indications are that similar [1981]. Evidencefrom current meterssuggests the region be- processesoccur along the westFlorida shelf. The objectiveof tween 24øN to 27øN along the west Florida shelffrom 200 to this studyis to describea boundarycurrent/shelf water inter- 100 m is stronglyinfluenced by low frequencyturbulence from action on the west Florida shelf. the Loop Current system[Niiler, 1976]. He proposedthat A specificexample of a boundarycurrent/shelf water inter- Loop Currenteddies were imbedded in a long meanderas a action is the intrusion of meanders of the Gulf Stream onto kinematicdescription of the wavesmoving northward and the southeasternU.S. coast [Stefanssonet al., 1971; Webster, alongshelf.Large meanders (in the cross-shelfdirection) along 1961; Lee et al., 1981; Bane et al., 1981; Lee and Atkinson, the west Florida shelf were seen in satellite data during 1983]. Theseintrusions result in exchangesof heat, momen- periodsof Loop Current retreat [Vukovichet al., 1979]. tum, and nutrientsbetween the Gulf Stream and the shelf Meanders were found in all months for which satellite data waters.Upwelling associated with theseintrusions also causes were available. Two "eddies" on the west Florida shelf were localizedareas of high near-surfaceand near-bottombiologi- detectedby Maul [1977] usingLandsat data. He concluded cal production[Yoder et al., 1981]. that theseeddies were similar to "spin-off"eddies described by Oceanic currents,such as the Loop Current, can induce Lee [1975]. Other evidencefor intrusionscomes from studies steadyupwelling of continentalshelf waters and the westFlo- of the intrusion of modified Loop Current water into DeSoto rida shelf was identified as an area where this processcould Canyonnear Pensacola, Florida with a resultingin situmodi- occur [Hsueh and O'Brien, 1971]. Anticylonicand cyclonic ficationof approximatelyhalf the intrudedwaters [Huh et al., eddiesdetach from the Loop Current and while the anti- 1981].Evidence from currentmeters on the continentalslope off Tampa indicatesa gyremay existwhen the Loop Current intrudes onto the shelf and the current bifurcates with the Copyright 1983by the American GeophysicalUnion. main transportto the southbut with sometransport to the Paper number 3C 1315. north [Molinari and Mayer, 1982]. Strong northwestward 0148-0227/83/003C- 1315505.00 flow was associatedwith a large tongueof warm water found 9639 9640 PALUSZKIEWICZ ET AL.' INTRUSION OF LOOP CURRENT ON SHELF •'•.•:'• ,. t• Tampa28ø 25¸ to 27øN during April 1-7, 1982. Alternating CTD and XBT observationswere obtained every 5-6 nautical miles in sevencross-shelf transits at three differentlocations (Figure 1). i ' '• Sect,on .... 27'ø • • .. [ ' Salinity and temperature were determinedby a Plessey9400 CTD interfacedwith a Hewlett Packard 9825 desktop com- puter. Water sampleswere taken at selecteddepths during the upcastwith Niskin bottles mounted on a rosettesampler cou- pled to the CTD. Surface temperature,salinity, and relative surfacechlorophyll fluorescencewere recordedalong transects • • • ( CapeSablel / 1 usingthe CTD and a Turner Designsmodel 10 fluorometerin ........:::.,{ •' / line with a flow of surfacewater. Phosphate,silicate, and ni- trate were analyzed with a Technicon Auto Analyzer II [Gli- .......';%?.....! •'•"'"'"::•'1bert and Loder, 1977]. The standard error of the mean for 85 ø 84 ø 83 ø 82 ø 81øW phosphate, nitrate and silicate were ___0.008,__+0.11, and Fig. 1. Sectionlocations for April 1-7, 1982. Section1 was oc- +__0.02#m, respectively.Dissolved oxygen concentrations were cupiedon April 2-3; section2 on April 3-4; section4 on April 4; determined using the methods of Strickland and Parsons section5a on April 4-5; section6 on April 6 and section8 on April 7. Data from section5b and 7 are not presentedhere. [1965]. Sea surfacetemperatures were derived from infrared data from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer where the Loop Current ran onto the west Florida shelf near (AVHRR) onboard the NOAA-7 polar orbiting satellite.These 25øN. data were calibrated by NASA using the two-channel algo- One consequenceof boundary current and adjacent shelf rithm of McClain [1981] along with observedsea surface tem- water interaction is the local modification of water masses. In peratures.The imageswere then rectifiedfor geometricdistor- this respect,the west Florida shelf can be thought of as a tion and enhancedto reveal temperaturegradients more clear- transition region. In the off-shelfregion temperature-salinity ly. The SST intercomparisonsindicate a 1ø-1.5øCbias which (T-S) characteristicsdisplay a salinity maximum (36.6-36.8•) is attributed to aerosol loading by the E1 Chichon eruptions near 22.5øC in the upper 200 m. Waters with this character- (R. W. Barbieri et al., manuscriptin preparation, 1983). Com- istic have been called Yucatan Water [Wennekens, 1959], parison of the location of surfacetemperature fronts identified Eastern Gulf Loop Water [Nowlin and McLellan, 1967], Righthand Water [Leipper, 1970], and Loop Current Water [Price, 1976]. The salinity maximum is a characteristicof Sub- tropical Underwater [Wust, 1964]. In general, water in the upper layer (0-200 m) of the Loop Current is due to an influx of Caribbean water which is a mixture of North Atlantic and South Atlantic waters.For simplicitywe will call waterscoin- cident with the subsurfacesalinity maximum Loop Current A D Water (LCW). Waters with fresher, colder T-S characteristics also occur in the region. Wennekens[1959] calls these waters Continental Edge Water (CEW) and notes that the T-S characteristicsare intermediate between Yucatan and western Gulf Water and they are found along the continentalside of the current. Low salinity valuesin watersbounding the Loop Current have also been describedby Nowlin and McLellan [1967] and Morrison North and Nowlin [1977]. We call waters with these characteristics and regional position CEW. Data from a recenthydrographic study on the west Florida Map Vie w shelf showed that interactions between LCW, CEW, and shelf water do occur, and an intrusion of a Loop Current "frontal eddy" was seen.Hydrographic and satellitedata collectedbe- tween April 1 and 7, 1982,showed a filament of LCW and the region of cold CEW which constituteda frontal eddy, along with the resulting interaction with shelf water as the water intruded onto the west Florida shelf. The structure of the LCW front and filament and the effect of the intrusion on the shelf waters appear similar to Gulf Stream frontal eddieson the east Florida shelf[Lee et al., 1981; Yoder et al., 1981]. OBSERVATIONAL METHODS Prior to the cruise, surface temperature charts (NOAA- , ['.'i' Section NESS, Miami) were examined to determine the position and Fig. 2. (Top) Schematic map view. (Bottom) Schematic north- likely propagation path of frontal events.Based
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