Subsurface Jets in the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico

Abstract

Abstract Subsurface jets, defined as having velocity maxima >40 cm s−1 at depths between 100 and 350 m, and being surrounded by much weaker near-surface currents, have been observed over the northwestern Gulf of Mexico continental slope. The observations were from an array of 14 moorings equipped with upward-looking 75-kHz ADCPs deployed at 450–500 m. A total of 10 jet events were observed in 18 ADCP years of velocity profile data, where these events were clearly not the result of downward-propagating inertial internal waves. The jets had durations from about 1 to 8 days and were usually associated with interactions between similarly sized cyclones and anticyclones over the slope or with the interaction of an eddy with upper-slope topography. The jets are associated with potential vorticity anomalies and their inferred length scales indicate that the dynamics depart from simple geostrophic balances. Observed anomalous density gradients present during the jets seem to involve the tilting of the vertical axis of the center of rotation of one or more of the interacting eddies.