Abstract
Abstract Tracer transport mechanisms in a deep western boundary current (DWBC) are explored using a three-layer, eddy-resolving quasigeostrophic model. The model is forced with a steady, sinusoidal wind stress. The effects of the wind stress, coupled with instabilities, create an unsteady, zonal surface jet at the boundary between the model subtropical and subpolar gyres. The bottom layer includes a DWBC created by specifying a mass inflow at the northern boundary and a mass outflow at the southern boundary. A numerical tracer is introduced into the DWBC with the mass source at the northern boundary. The surface jet creates an effective boundary to tracer transport in the DWBC. This barrier to meridional tracer transport causes approximately 70% of the tracer moved out of the northern part of the DWBC to be transported zonally into the interior with only 30% continuing southward in the DWBC. In model runs with a flat bottom, approximately 20% of the total meridional tracer flux is due to the eddy field. W...
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