Summer
(August 15) zonal current
velocity
in the equatorial Atlantic at
33W
to a depth of 500m. The thick
line
is the mixed layer base.
These
cross-sections illustrate the
Equatorial
Undercurrent and the
nearsurface
tropical gyre between the
Equator
and 10N. The structure of
these
flows are more realistic in
the
hybrid-coordinate HYCOM
simulations.
The
observed flow field was produced
by
initializing the model with Levitus
climatology,
shutting off thermo-
dynamical
forcing, and running the
model
for two weeks. Substantial
transients
remained in the equatorial
region,
resulting in the poor
representation
of the undercurrent.
