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An intense cold core eddy in the North-East Atlantic

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Abstract

We describe here a large intense mesoscale feature in the North Atlantic (48° N, 22° W) observed in April 1985. From the thermal structure of this feature at a depth of 475 m (Fig. 1a) and from the pattern of larger scale flow (dominated by a nearly rectilinear thermal front (NE–SW), Fig. 1b) we conclude that the feature is the eastern basin counterpart of the Gulf Stream cold-core eddies often observed in the western basin1,2. To our knowledge, this is the most intense coherent cold-core eddy so far surveyed in this region, and the only such eddy for which data bearing on the mechanism of formation are available.

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Kupferman, S., Becker, G., Simmons, W. et al. An intense cold core eddy in the North-East Atlantic. Nature 319, 474–477 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1038/319474a0

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