On the baroclinic structure of the Brazil Current-Intermediate Western Boundary Current system at 22°-23° -: art. no. L14308

The baroclinic structure of the Brazil Current( BC)Intermediate Western Boundary Current (IWBC) at 22 degrees-23 degreesS was investigated. A reanalysis of the pioneer velocity profile measurements of the TRANSCOBRA Experiment [ Evans and Signorini, 1985] revealed that the BC-IWBC system is about 75 - 80% baroclinic. Mapped velocity structure showed flow reversal at about 450 m, an IWBC thickness of 1200 m and core velocities exceeding 0.30 m s(-1). Total ( baroclinic) transports for BC ( southwestwards) and IWBC (northeastwards) were 5.6 (4.2) Sv and 3.6 (4.1) Sv, respectively. The strong baroclinic character of the BC-IWBC system and the lack of direct velocity observations in the area yielded us to propose the use of the cross-shelf version of the Princeton Ocean Model to generate absolute baroclinic velocities from hydrographic data. These velocities presented a similar reversal depth, and the transports of about 6 - 7 Sv for both BC-IWBC were also comparable to values reported in the literature.