A description of COADS surface meteorological fields and the implied Sverdrup transports for the Atlantic Ocean from 30°S to 60°N

Abstract

This rendition of the Sverdrup streamfunction, computed with constant drag coefficient and air density, compares favorably with that from other climatologies. In the Straits of Florida, analyses suggest that differences between the annual cycle in Sverdrup transport and observations may be due to regional winds farther north. In the tropical gyre, the Sverdrup circulation argues against a continuous western boundary current transporting water from the equatorial region into the Caribbean in boreal winter, bringing to question the mechanisms for the known interhemisphere and intergyre exchanges of heat and mass. A pentadal analysis in the subtropical gyre indicates that windstress curl was not a major factor in the density structure differences reported between 1955-1959 and 1970-1974; hence, these require other explanations. -from Authors