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Science 29 March 1985:
Vol. 227. no. 4694, pp. 1552 - 1556
DOI: 10.1126/science.227.4694.1552
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Articles

Three-Dimensional Flow in the Upper Ocean

Robert A. Weller 1, Jerome P. Dean 1, James F. Price 1, Erika A. Francis 1, John Marra 2, and David C. Boardman 2

1 Members of the research staff at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543.
2 Members of the research staff at the Lamont-Doberty Geological Observatory, Palisades, New York 10964.

Measurements made from the Research Platform FLIP provide some of the first direct observations of three-dimensional flow within the surface mixed layer of the ocean. Relatively narrow regions of downwelling flow were found within the mixed layer, in coincidence with bands of convergent surface flow. At mid-depth in the mixed layer, the downwelling flow had magnitudes of up to 0.2 meter per second and was accompanied by a downwind, horizontal jet of comparable magnitude. There is some evidence that these motions transport heat and phytoplankton within the mixed layer.

Submitted on December 21, 1983
Accepted on July 23, 1984


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Compensation of Horizontal Temperature and Salinity Gradients in the Ocean Mixed Layer.
D. L. Rudnick and R. Ferrari (1999)
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Topographically Controlled Fronts in the Ocean and Their Biological Influence.
E. WOLANSKI and W. M. HAMNER (1988)
Science 241, 177-181
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