Characterization of “dead-zone” eddies in the eastern tropical North
Atlantic

Schütte, Florian; Karstensen, Johannes; Krahmann, Gerd; Hauss, Helena; Fiedler, Björn; Brandt, Peter; Visbeck, Martin; Körtzinger, Arne

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-5865-2016

Articles | Volume 13, issue 20

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-5865-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Special issue:

Hydrography, biogeochemistry, and biology of "dead-zone eddies"...

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-5865-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 13, issue 20

Research article

|

28 Oct 2016

Research article |

| 28 Oct 2016

Characterization of “dead-zone” eddies in the eastern tropical North Atlantic

Florian Schütte, Johannes Karstensen, Gerd Krahmann, Helena Hauss, Björn Fiedler, Peter Brandt, Martin Visbeck, and Arne Körtzinger

Data sets

Characterization of dead-zone eddies in the tropical Northeast Atlantic F. Sch\"{u}tte, J. Karstensen, G. Krahmann, H. Hauss, B. Fiedler, P. Brandt, and M. Visbeck https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.860778

Remote Sensing Systems, Microwave-Infrared optimal interpolated Sea Surface Temperature REMSS http://www.remss.com/measurements/sea-surface-temperature/

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Modis Aqua Level 3 Chlorophyll NASA http://oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov

Argo float data Argo Data Management Team https://doi.org/10.17882/42182#42349

Copernicus Marine and Environment Monitoring Service, Sea Level Anomaly CMEMS http://marine.copernicus.eu

Short summary

Mesoscale eddies with very low–oxygen concentrations at shallow depth have been recently discovered in the eastern tropical North Atlantic. Our analysis shows that low oxygen eddies occur more frequent than expected and are found even close to the equator (8° N). From budget calculations we show that an oxygen reduction of 7 µmol/kg in the depth range of 50–150 m in the eastern tropical North Atlantic (peak reduction is 16 µmol/kg at 100 m depth) can be associated with the dispersion of these eddies.