H. Mercier et Kg. Speer, TRANSPORT OF BOTTOM WATER IN THE ROMANCHE FRACTURE-ZONE AND THE CHAINFRACTURE-ZONE, Journal of physical oceanography, 28(5), 1998, pp. 779-790
Two moored arrays deployed in the Romanche Fracture Zone and Chain Fra
cture Zone in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean provide two-year-long time
series of current and temperature in the Lower North Atlantic Deep Wa
ter and the Antarctic Bottom Water. Total rime-averaged transport of A
ntarctic Bottom Water (potential temperature theta < 1.9 degrees C) ac
ross the Mid-Atlantic Ridge amounts to 1.22 X 10(6) m(3) s(-1) eastwar
d with a standard deviation of +/-0.25 X 10(6) m(3) s(-1). A time-aver
aged transport of 0.36(+/- 0.23) x 10(6) m(3) s(-1) eastward is found
for the Lower North Atlantic Deep Water in the 1.9 degrees < theta < 2
.1 degrees C temperature range, but this may represent only a fraction
of the total flow of this water mass across the ridge. Contributions
of the Romanche Fracture Zone and Chain Fracture Zone to the Antarctic
Bottom Water transport are similar, while the Chain Fracture Zone has
the greater share of Lower North Atlantic Deep Water transport. Semia
nnual and annual periods are detected in the transport time series and
together explain 24% of the Antarctic Bottom Water transport variance
in the Romanche Fracture Zone. In the Chain Fracture Zone, Antarctic
Bottom Water transport variance is dominated by fluctuations in the pe
riod band 10-20 days.