Journal of Physical Oceanography, July 1st, 2004
ABSTRACT
A model for the vertical structure of ocean gyres is presented that extends the ideal thermocline theories of Rhines and Young and Luyten et al. to include a cross-layer volume flux associated with geostrophic eddy transfer. A two-and-one-half-layer model is considered that assumes that the intensity of the eddy transfer depends on the local strength of the current. The ideal thermocline models emerge in the limit where the parameter characterizing the cross-layer volume flux is asymptotically small. Inclusion of the eddy-induced volume flux resolves the nonuniqueness of the Sverdrup...
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