Atlantic Ocean surface circulation schematics. (a) North Atlantic; the eastward EUC along the equator just below the surface layer is also shown (gray dashed).

Atlantic Ocean surface circulation schematics. (b) South Atlantic; the eastward EUC along the equator just below the surface layer is also shown (gray dashed).

Steric height (10 m² s⁻²) at (a) 0 dbar and (b) 500 dbar, adjusted to estimate the absolute geostrophic circulation. Source: From Reid (1994).

Gulf Stream System formation region. Volume transports (Sv) through the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. After Johns et al. (2002).

Sea surface temperature from the GOES satellite. (a) Gulf of Mexico showing the Loop Current beginning to form an eddy. (b) Gulf Stream, showing meander at the Charleston Bump and downstream shingling. Black contours are isobaths (100, 500, 700, 1000 m). This figure can also be found in the color insert. Source: From Legeckis, Brown and Chang (2002).

Gulf Stream velocity sections and transports. (a) Mean velocity of the Florida Current at the Straits of Florida at 27°N. Source: From Leaman, Johns, and Rossby (1989). (b) Smoothed geostrophic velocity at Cape Hatteras. Source: From Pickart and Smethie (1993). (c) Gulf Stream transport (Sv) at different longitudes; Cape Hatteras and the New England Seamounts are indicated by hatching. Barotropic and baroclinic transports are indicated. Source: From Johns et al. (1995).

Gulf Stream northern edges every two days from infrared surface temperature for (top) April to December 1982, (middle) all of 1983, and (bottom) April 1982 to September 1984. The faint white curves are the mean tracks. Source: From Cornillon (1986).

Subtropical North Atlantic at 66°W in August 1997. (a) Potential temperature (°C), (b) salinity, and (c) oxygen (μmol/kg). This figure can also be found in the color insert. (World Ocean Circulation Experiment section A22.)

(a) SST (satellite AVHRR image) on August 27, 1998. This figure can also be found in the color insert. (b) Schematic of upwelling (horizontal bars), eddy fields (dots), and preferred filaments (arrows). Source: From Pelegrí et al. (2005).

North Atlantic Current and Labrador Current at the Grand Banks. (a) SST (AVHRR) on October 12, 2008, showing cold Labrador Current moving southward along the edge of the Grand Banks. Source: From Johns Hopkins APL Ocean Remote Sensing (1996). This figure can also be found in the color insert.

(b) North Atlantic Current and DWBC velocity section (solid contours and numbers) with temperature contours, from August 1993 to January 1994, from about 48°W to 41°W at about 42°N. Velocity contours are 10 cm/sec. Source: From Meinen and Watts (2000).

Gulf Stream rings. (a) Locations of Gulf Stream and of warm- and cold-core rings in March to July 1975. (b, c) Vertical temperature sections along lines A and B in (a) showing Gulf Stream and cold- and warm-core ring structures. After Richardson et al. (1978).

Tropical current structures. (a) Eastward velocity along the equator, from a data assimilation. This figure can also be found in the color insert. Source: From Bourlès et al. (2008).

Tropical current structures. (b) Mean zonal transports (Sv) (gray eastward) and water masses at 35°W. Source: From Schott et al. (2003).

North Brazil, Brazil, and Malvinas Currents. (a) Satellite ocean color image (CZCS) of the NBC retroflection prior to ring. (b) Mean velocity (cm/sec) from current meters in the NBC at about 4°N in 1990. (c) Infrared satellite image of the Brazil-Malvinas confluence. Black lines are current vectors at moorings, at approximately 200 m depth. Light curve is the 1000 m isobath. This figure can also be found in the color insert.Source: From Johns et al., 1998.

North Brazil, Brazil, and Malvinas Currents. (d) Malvinas current mean velocities (cm/sec) at about 41°S, based on current meters (crosses and diamonds) and satellite altimetry. Positive velocities are northward. Source: From Spadone and Provost, 2009.

Benguela Current and Agulhas retroflection. (a, b) AVHRR SST monthly composite for July (winter) and December (summer) 2005. Source: From UCT Oceanography Department, 2009. (c) Schematic of Agulhas retroflection and eddies, with flow directions in the intermediate water layer. Gray-shaded rings are the Agulhas anticyclones. Dashed rings are cyclones that are generated in the Agulhas. This figure can be found in the color insert. Source: From Richardson, 2007.

Steric height (10 m² s⁻²) at (a) 2500 dbar and (b) 4000 dbar, adjusted to estimate the absolute geostrophic circulation. Source: From Reid (1994).

Schematics of deep circulation. (a) NSOW (blue), LSW (white dashed), and upper ocean (red, orange, and yellow) in the northern North Atlantic. Source: From Schott and Brandt (2007).

Schematics of deep circulation. (b) Deep circulation pathways emphasizing DWBCs (solid) and their recirculations (dashed). Red: NSOW. Brown: NADW. Blue: AABW. This figure can also be found in the color insert. (M.S. McCartney, personal communication, 2009.)

Salinity and meridional transport in isopycnal layers at (a, b) 24°N in 1981 and (c, d) 32°S in 1959/1972. The inset map shows section locations. The isopycnals (σθ, σ2, σ4) that define the layers are contoured in black on the salinity sections. Figures 9.16a, c can also be found in the color insert. See also online supplementary Figures S9.24 and S9.25 for examples from Bryden, Longworth, and Cunningham (2005b) and Ganachaud (2003). After Talley (2008), based on Reid (1994) velocities.

Location of most major Atlantic water masses using a meridional salinity section at 20–25°W, as a function of (a) depth and (b) neutral density (γ^N). (White areas at high density are the ocean bottom. White areas at low density [top of figure] are above the sea surface.) Inset map in (a) shows station locations. Acronyms are within the text and in Table S9.4 in the online supplement. (See also Figure 4.11b.) (World Ocean Circulation Experiment sections A16 and A23)

Potential temperature (°C) versus salinity for (a) full water column, and (b) water colder than 10°C. (c) Potential temperature versus oxygen for full water column. (d) Station location map. Colors indicate latitude range. Contours are potential density referenced to 0 dbar. Data are from the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (1988–1997). This figure can also be found in the color insert.

Mode waters. (a) EDW thickness from all Argo profiles from 1998–2008. The EDW is defined here by 17°C ≤ T ≤ 19°C and dT/dZ ≤ 0.006°C/m. The small gray dots in the background indicate profiles without EDW. (Young-Oh Kwon, personal communication, 2009.)(b) March mixed layer depth from a data-assimilating model (SODA). Source: From Schott et al. (2009).(c) Potential temperature (°C) of the late winter mixed layer, shown only where the mixed layer is more than 200 m thick. This is the SPMW. Source: From McCartney and Talley (1982).

Subpolar North Atlantic at about 55°N from May to June, 1997. (a) Potential temperature (°C), (b) salinity, (c) oxygen, and (d) potential density (σ_θ) in the Labrador Sea (left side) and from Greenland to Ireland (right side). This figure can also be found in the color insert. (World Ocean Circulation Experiment sections AR7W and A24.)

LSW.(a) Salinity at the LSW potential vorticity minimum. Dark curve is the limit of the PV minimum; salinity on an intersecting isopycnal is shown south and east of this limit. Source: From Talley and McCartney (1982). (b) Chlorofluorocarbon-11 (pmol/kg) in the upper LSW layer, at σ_θ ~ 27.71 kg/m³. Figure 9.21b can be found in the color insert. Source: From Schott et al. (2009) and from Kieke et al. (2006).

Subtropical North Atlantic at 24°N from July to August 1992. (a) Potential temperature (°C), (b) salinity, (c) oxygen (μmol/kg), and (d) CFC-11 (pmol/kg) at 24°N. This figure can be found in the color insert. (World Ocean Circulation Experiment section A05). Adapted: From WOCE Atlantic Ocean Atlas; Jancke, Gouretski, and Koltermann (2011).

(a) Temperature, salinity, and potential density profiles near the strait sill in spring. Source: From Bray, Ochoa, and Kinder (1995). (b) Potential density at 6° 30’W just west of the Strait of Gibraltar, in spring. Source: From Ochoa and Bray (1991).

(c) Outflow pathways of the MW. Source: From Zenk (1975).

(a) Potential density in Denmark Strait. The heavy contour marks the upper bound on the overflow layer in the strait. Source: From Macrander et al. (2005).

(b) Potential temperature (°C) crossing the Iceland-Faroe Ridge. Source: From Hansen and Østerhus (2000).

Salinity at about 28°S in the western South Atlantic, with water masses labeled. Source: From Hogg, Siedler, and Zenk (1999).

Salinity on the isopycnal σ3 = 41.44 kg/m³ (referenced to 3000 dbar), which lies at approximately 2500 m depth. Source: From Reid (1994).

Chlorofluorocarbon-11 (pmol/kg) along 20–25°W from (a) 1988–1989 and (b) 2003–2005. Section location is shown in the inset map. Sample locations are indicated by small dots on the plots