On the Deep Western Boundary Current Separation and Anticyclone Genesis off Northeast Brazil
Published in JGR: Oceans, 2023
The Deep Western Boundary Current transports southward the cold and dense waters linked to the deep limb of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). Among many properties, these waters transport energy from the Northern to the Southern Hemisphere, thousands of meters below the surface. Along the deep ocean off northeast Brazil, this current breaks up into large whirlpools of water that rotate counterclockwise while propagating southwestward. These whirlpools in the ocean are know as eddies. We observe that the eddy formation is linked to a feature of the Brazilian continental margin: the Pernambuco Plateau (PP). Moreover, both shipboard data and numerical model outputs hint at a possible separation of the deep current near the PP prior to the eddy formation. We test the separation with theories and the results converge to indicate that the deep current undergoes a local separation off the continental slope while contouring the PP. In addition, we present that the eddies grow by feeding off the energy from the deep current. The local separation and regional energy exchange along this deep current contribute to further discussions about the pathways of the AMOC and heat fluxes in the South Atlantic.
Recommended citation: ‘Vilela-Silva, F., Silveira, I.C.A., Napolitano, D.C., Souza-Neto, P.W.M., Bilo, T.C., Gangopadhyay, A. (2023). "On the Deep Western Boundary Current Separation and Anticyclone Genesis off Northeast Brazil." JGR: Oceans, 128, e2022JC019168.’