| Data from 4.8 years of current meter mooring arrays located across the western boundary currents at 26.5;Local eddy heat flux is small. Since eddy energy is concentrated in the western boundary region, basinwide eddy heat flux is unlikely to be important. Diagnostics of heat flux estimate errors are performed, primarily from CME. This indicates that the geostrophic method yields an underestimate of transatlantic heat flux. An improvement in the most probable error is seen if monthly rather than annual values are used for mean flows. The mean error is also improved if direct rather than geostrophic results are used in the western boundary current region. The barotropic correction term is important, and a major factor in making geostrophic calculations of heat transport underestimates. From the model, deep shear in the ocean seems weak enough to permit monitoring by upper-ocean XBT sampling. With proper instrumentation, widely spaced dynamic height moorings spaced could provide reasonable heat transport estimates. |
