Slope water has been tracked on the European Shelf using drifters and gliders.
The deflection onto the shelf is not captured in models.
The slope water has a higher nitrate concentration that the shelf water, and supplies nutrients to the shelf.
(a) pathway of the shallow drifters over the first 45 days after their release, in grey. The thick black trajectory shows the time mean line, from which the local across and along flow directions are derived. The local bathymetry is shown by thin black lines and Coriolis parameter/depth (f/h) contours by dashed lines. Location A is the point at which the shallow drifters stagnated and turned to cross f/h contours. (b) The trajectories of all of the drifters throughout their active periods, shaded by the date. Location C shows the drifter release point, Location D shows where the deeper drifters crossed onto the shelf and Location B where the deeper drifters re-joined the slope.
Porter, M., Dale, A., Jones, S.C., Siemering, B., Inall, M.E. (2018). Cross-slope flow in the Atlantic Inflow Current driven by the on shelf deflection of a slope current. Deep-Sea Research Part I, in press. doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2018.09.002
Sam Jones 