The arrested Agulhas retroflection

Indian-atlantic transfer of thermocline water at the agulhas retroflection.

During November and December 1983, two anticyclonic eddies were observed west of the Agulhas Retroflection, apparently spawned at the retroflection. The western eddy, centered 300 kilometers southwest of Cape Town, has a winter cooled core encircled by warm Indian Ocean water. Between Cape Town and the "Cape Town Eddy" is a net geostrophic transport of Indian Ocean thermocline water (14 x 10(6)...

Decoupling of the Agulhas Leakage from the Agulhas Current

The relationship between theAgulhas Current and theAgulhas leakage is not well understood. Here, this is investigated using two basin-scale and two global ocean models of incrementally increasing resolution. The response of the Agulhas Current is evaluated under a series of sensitivity experiments, in which idealized anomalies, designed to geometrically modulate zonal trade wind stress, are app...

Retroflection from slanted coastlines

Introduction Conclusions References Tables Figures ◭ ◮ ◭ ◮ Back Close Full Screen / Esc Abstract Introduction Conclusions References Tables Figures ◭ ◮ ◭ ◮ Back Close Full Screen / Esc Abstract The balance of long-shore momentum flux requires that the solution of retroflecting currents involves ring shedding on the western side. An important aspect of the ring dynamics is the ring intensity α (...

On the fast decay of Agulhas rings

[1] The Indian Ocean water that ends up in the Atlantic Ocean detaches from the Agulhas Current retroflection predominantly in the form of Agulhas rings and cyclones. Using numerical Lagrangian float trajectories in a high‐resolution numerical ocean model, the fate of coherent structures near the Agulhas Current retroflection is investigated. It is shown that within the Agulhas Current, upstrea...

Retroflection from slanted coastlines ? circumventing the ''vorticity paradox''