North Brazil Current: Variability, stability and transport of waters

Abstract

--On the basis of the data of the in situ measurements of current velocities and other basic hydrophysical parameters (temperature and salinity) performed in the course of Cruise 41 of the R/V Akademik Vernadsky, we analyze the variability and stability of the North Brazil Current in winter.We also study the possibility of the influence of the baroclinic Component of the horizontal drop of hydrostatic pressure on the vertical profile of the current velocity and estimate the intensity of the transport of waters.In February and March 1990, complex investigations of the North Brazil and Guiana currents were carried out in the economic zone of Brazil in the course of Cruise 41 of the R/V Akademik Vernadsky. As a result, a large body of very interesting and important oceanographic information was collected. The results of the investigation of thermohaline and kinematic structures of waters of this system of currents in the shelf zone, on the continental slope, and in the abyssal part of the ocean near the coast of Brazil are published in [1][2][3]. In the present work, we continue the investigation originated in [3] and make an attempt to analyze the variability and stability of the North Brazil Current for the time of operation of autonomous buoy stations in winter, the relationship between the fields of density and current velocities, and the transport of waters.Actually, we consider the following problems:1. Variability of the North Brazil Current near the foot of the continental slope and in the abyssal part of the ocean and the dependence of the current velocity on depth.2. Stability of the flow in winter in its various parts and at different depths.