A search for meddies in historical data

Abstract

A search was made using historical hydrographic data from the eastern North Atlantic to find measurements of very salty layers between 700–1300 m that could be observations of the warm, salty lenses known as meddies (Mediterranean water eddies). Twenty-five stations were found out of a total of 13 551 with positive salinity anomalies of at least 0.4 psu, about half that of a strong meddy in the Canary Basin. These possible meddy observations were combined with additional reported observations to show that meddies generally lie in an oval whose long axis extends 3000 km southwestward from the coast of Portugal. Five possible meddy observations were found north of this region, near 44° N, where they have previously never been reported.