Downstream development of the Gulf Stream from 68° to 55°W

Abstract

It is found that: 1) water parcels in the exposed surface layers experience downstream density and potential vorticity changes consistent with surface forcing; 2) thermocline Gulf Stream transport is conserved downstream and below the exposed layers is conserved within individual density classes; 3) subthermocline Gulf Stream transport increases modestly at levels above the sill depth of the New England Seamounts but quadruples at levels below that; 4) the calculated potential vorticity structure displays several distinct layers; and 5) transport and potential vorticity distributions together suggest that five active layers and steep bottom topography are required to fully describe downstream evolution of the Gulf Stream as an open-ocean eastward jet. -from Authors