Reconsidering the relationship between Gulf Stream transport and dynamic
sea level at U.S. East Coast
Abstract
The relationship between Gulf Stream (GS) transport and coastal sea
level is investigated using monthly GS transport between 1993–2019 at
Florida Straits and ten altimeter tracks. The results show that GS
transport decorrelates quickly along its path, indicating it is
misleading to assume that transport at a particular location represents
strength of the GS as a whole. GS transport south of Cape Hatteras is
significantly correlated with coastal sea level in both the South
Atlantic Bight (SAB) and Middle Atlantic Bight (MAB). However, the
significant correlations in MAB are due to their concurrent response
wind on the shelf—the correlation becomes insignificant once the
influence of local winds is removed. North of Cape Hatteras, the
influence of GS transport on sea level is mostly over the deep ocean and
rarely on the shelf, indicating that there is no dynamic link between
the GS transport and coastal sea level in this region.