Meandering of the subtropical front south-east of the Azores

A subtropical front was observed in the area south and southeast of the Azores during cruises of FS Meteor and FS Poseidon in early 1982. The front has a basically west–east extension, with considerable meandering observed. Meso-scale eddies are found on both sides. The overall flow pattern corresponds to earlier results on geopotential differences in the upper northeast Atlantic, but the baroclinic transport of the order of 107 m3 s−1 is found to be concentrated in a 60-km wide jet. We suggest here that the current band is part of the gyre circulation, resulting from a branching of the North Atlantic Current