Scientists reveal presence of ocean current 'stripes'

Scripps physical oceanographer Peter Niiler Click here for more information.

“I’m most grateful to the University of California for helping to support the invention and the 20-year maintenance of a comprehensive program of ocean circulation measurements,” he said. “Scripps Institution of Oceanography is unique because of its commitment to long-term observations of the climate. Instrumental measurements of the ocean are fundamental to the definition of the state of the climate today and improvement of its prediction into the future.”

In portions of the Southern Ocean, these striations—also known as ocean fronts—produce alternating eastward and westward accelerations of circulation and portions of them nearly circumnavigate Antarctica. These striations also delineate the ocean regions where uptake of carbon dioxide is greatest. In the Atlantic Ocean, these flows bear a strong association to the Azores Current along which water flowing south from the North Atlantic circulation is being subducted. The spatial high-resolution view of the linkage between the striations and the larger scale patterns of currents could improve predictions of ocean temperatures and hurricane paths.

In addition, the striations are connected to important ecosystems like the California and Peru-Chile current systems. Off California, the striations are linked to the steady east-west displacements, or meanders, of the California Current, a major flow that runs from the border of Washington and Oregon to the southern tip of Baja California. The striations run nearly perpendicular to the California Current and continue southwestward to the Hawaiian Islands.

Niiler said there are a number of scientists who have theorized the existence of striations in the ocean. He was the first to formulate such a theory as a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University in 1965. Niiler’s theory today is that the steady-state striations in the eastern North Pacific are caused by the angular momentum of the swirling eddies within the California Current System.