FN Archimer Export Format PT J TI Observations of Irminger Sea Anticyclonic Eddies BT AF FAN, Xue SEND, Uwe TESTOR, Pierre KARSTENSEN, Johannes LHERMINIER, Pascale AS 1:1;2:1;3:2;4:3;5:4; FF 1:;2:;3:;4:;5:PDG-ODE-LPO; C1 Univ Calif San Diego, Scripps Inst Oceanog, La Jolla, CA 92093 USA. Univ Paris 06, OCEAN, Paris, France. IFM GEOMAR, Kiel, Germany. IFREMER, Plouzane, France. C2 UNIV CALIF SAN DIEGO, USA UNIV PARIS 06, FRANCE IFM GEOMAR, GERMANY IFREMER, FRANCE SI BREST SE PDG-ODE-LPO IN WOS Ifremer jusqu'en 2018 copubli-france copubli-europe copubli-univ-france copubli-int-hors-europe IF 2.871 TC 23 TU Centre national de la recherche scientifique Institut de recherche pour le développement Institut français de recherche pour l'exploitation de la mer Service Hydrographique et Océanographique de la Marine Université de Bretagne Occidentale Université de Bretagne-Sud UR https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00137/24832/22921.pdf LA English DT Article CR OVIDE 1 OVIDE 2 OVIDE 3 BO Thalassa Maria S. Merian DE ;North Atlantic Ocean;Eddies;Mesoscale processes AB Mesoscale anticyclonic eddies in the Irminger Sea are observed using a mooring and a glider. Between 2002 and 2009, the mooring observed 53 anticyclones. Using a kinematic model, objective estimates of eddy length scales and velocity structure are made for 16 eddies. Anticyclones had a mean core diameter of 12 km, and their mean peak observed azimuthal speed was 0.1 m s(-1). They had core salinities and potential temperatures of 34.91-34.98 and 4.488-5.34 degrees C, respectively, making them warm and salty features. These properties represent a typical salinity anomaly of 0.03 and a temperature anomaly of 0.28 degrees C from noneddy values. All eddies had small (<< 1) Rossby numbers. In 2006, the glider observed two anticyclones having diameters of about 20 km and peak azimuthal speeds of about 0.3 m s(-1). Similar salinity anomalies were detected throughout the Irminger Sea by floats profiling in anticyclones. Two formation regions for the eddies are identified: one to the west of the Reykjanes Ridge and the other off the East Greenland Irminger Current near Cape Farewell close to the mooring. Observations indicate that eddies formed in the former region are larger than eddies observed at the mooring. A clear increase in eddy salinity is observed between 2002 and 2009. The observed breakup of these eddies in winter implies that they are a source of salt for the central gyre. The anticyclones are similar to those found in both the Labrador Sea and Norwegian Sea, making them a ubiquitous feature of the subpolar North Atlantic basins. PY 2013 PD APR SO Journal Of Physical Oceanography SN 0022-3670 PU Amer Meteorological Soc VL 43 IS 4 UT 000317917500008 BP 805 EP 823 DI 10.1175/JPO-D-11-0155.1 ID 24832 ER EF