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Distribution, Mixing, and Transformation of a Loop Current Ring Waters: The Case of Gulf of Mexico
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  • Mathieu Gentil,
  • Enric Pallàs-Sanz,
  • Leo Middleton,
  • Angel Ruiz-Angulo,
  • Thomas Meunier,
  • Giovanni Durante,
  • Miguel Tenreiro,
  • Sheila Natali Estrada-Allis,
  • Julio Sheinbaum Pardo
Mathieu Gentil
Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada, Baja California

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Enric Pallàs-Sanz
Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada (CICESE)
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Leo Middleton
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
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Angel Ruiz-Angulo
University of Iceland
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Thomas Meunier
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
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Giovanni Durante
Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada (CICESE)
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Miguel Tenreiro
CICESE
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Sheila Natali Estrada-Allis
Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada (CICESE)
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Julio Sheinbaum Pardo
Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education at Ensenada
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Abstract

Mesoscale warm-core rings, known as Loop Current rings (LCRs) reshape the Gulf of Mexico water masses by redistributing large amounts of heat and salt laterally. LCRs also transform water masses via diapycnal mixing, but the mechanisms by which this occurs are poorly measured. Here, we present glider-MicroPod turbulence observations that reveal enhanced mixing below the mixed layer, along the eddy edges, driving the LCR’s heat, salt, and oxygen exchanges. Submesoscale stirring at the LCR’s edge yields interleavings of adjacent water masses, which facilitates double-diffusive mixing that transforms Subtropical Underwater into Gulf Common Water. Our findings highlight the need for ocean models to parameterize double-diffusive mixing processes directly resulting from submesoscale tracer stirring, which may be important at basin scale in the presence of LCRs in the Gulf of Mexico.
09 Jul 2024Submitted to ESS Open Archive
11 Jul 2024Published in ESS Open Archive