A Summary of North Atlantic Baroclinic Variability

Abstract

The modal decomposition, proportional amplitudes, and lateral spatial scale of baroclinic motions in the North Atlantic Ocean are described as determined from more than 20 years of moored instrument data. The subtropical and subpolar gyres emerge naturally as regions of distinct energy levels, in the ratio of potential to kinetic energy, and in horizontal wavelength. Data in other ocean basins prove too sparse to use.