3A Carolina Capes/ Sargasso Sea 



Donald B. Olson 



Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science 



University of Miami 



Miami, Florida 



Five CZCS pigment images of the northwestern Sargasso Sea and the 

 North American slope and shelf are described. The pigment field shows 

 the rapid change in optical characteristics across the Gulf Stream. 

 Mesoscale features dominate the interior of the major water mass 

 provinces. A large warm-core ring appears as a low-pigment feature in the 

 slope water, and a number of cold-core rings can be seen in the Sargasso 

 Sea. These are regions with elevated pigment and are the centers of large- 

 scale advective features. Portions of the shelf region are low in pigment in 

 these particular images, in contrast to normal conditions. This, in 

 comparison with other years, implies large interannual variability in the 

 phytoplankton standing crops in these regions. Subscale plumes 

 associated with capes are also seen along the Carolina coast. 



The CZCS images cover the area from the Carolina capes out to the 

 region between the Sargasso Sea and Scotian Shelf in a two-week period in 

 the mid to late spring of 1979. Since many of the features in the pigment 

 distributions are found in several of the images, the discussions included 

 with each of the images are relevant to the others. A mercator projection 

 depiction (35-1) identifies important features in the images in relation to 

 various landmarks. The reader is encouraged to compare the images in 

 order to obtain a better feeling for the temporal changes in the regions 

 covered. 



40° 



ENTRAINMENT INTO 

 GULF STREAM 



35' 



CAPE HATTERAS — ^=§^ 



AXIS OF NEW ENGLAND 

 SEAMOUNTS 



CHARLESTON 



35-1. Mercator Projection Depiction. North Atlantic Coast Waters. 



35 



