North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre: SOFAR Floats Tracked by Moored Listening Stations.

In 1980, SOFAR (sound fixing and ranging) floats were tracked acoustically in the western North Atlantic entirely by means of moored autonomous listening stations. During a 5-month period 17 float trajectories were obtained in the eastern (45 degrees to 65 degrees W) Gulf Stream and subtropical gyre interior at depths of 700 and 2000 meters. These mid-depth trajectories suggest a time-varying Gulf Stream with instances of both a narrow, swift, westward recirculation south of the stream and a northeastward penetration into the Newfoundland Basin. A hundredfold increase of eddy kinetic energy was observed at 2000 meters from the gyre interior (south of 30 degrees N) to the Gulf Stream.

Subsurface circulation in the somali current.

Direct velocity measurements were made at intermediate depths along the East African coast from March to July 1979. Strong time-dependent flows with multiple reversals in direction were found in the upper 1000 meters between 3 degrees N and 4 degrees S. At 700 meters, there may be a connection between the southwestward coastal current and an equatorial jet observed at 49 degrees E, the latter turning south near the coast. North of 3 degrees N little spatial organization of the flow can be recognized.

Mediterranean Water: An Intense Mesoscale Eddy off the Bahamas.

An anticyclonic lens of water in the permanent thermocline off the Bahamas has water mass characteristics representing Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic central waters. This eddy's ability to translate across the Atlantic without losing its identity points to baroclinic eddies as a specific mechanism for large-scale mixing.