A Comparison of the Mid-Latitude Eddy Fields in the Western North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans

Abstract

Latitudinal distributions of estimates of eddy kinetic energy and off-diagonal component of the horizontal Reynolds stresses are demonstrated to have similar shapes at corresponding (generally western) locations, but at much different depths, in the mid-latitude North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans. This comparison is based on direct current measurements at abyssal depths in the North Atlantic along 55°W, and on indirect estimates of upper-level velocity differences in the vertical for the North Pacific between the Izu (or Izu-Ogasawara or South Honshu) Ridge and the Shatsky Rise. These sections span the more energetic segments of the Kuroshio Extension and Gulf Stream systems.