North Brazil Current Rings
From July to February, it is quite common for the current to separate from the coast and curve back into itself. Since the current can be quite large, it is easy for large anticyclonic rings to generate, which separate from the main mass of the current and move northwestward with the prevailing winds. The mean diameter of the rings is about 300 kilometers, and move between 8 and 30 kilometers per day depending on the strength of the flow surrounding the ring. The rings are relatively shallow and move typically less than 1 Sv of water. The rings will eventually spin down after 100 days. Most rings make it to within the vicinity of the Caribbean Sea, and it is even possible for some to move into the Caribbean, given that they are small enough to fit between the Lesser Antilles.
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Famous quotes containing the words north, current and/or rings:
“Ah! on Thanksgiving day, when from East and from West,
From North and from South, come the pilgrim and guest,
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And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before.
What moistens the lip and what brightens the eye?
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—John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892)
“For the purpose of knowledge, one must know how to use that inner current that draws us to a thing, and then the one that, after a time, draws us away from it.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“We will have rings and things, and fine array,
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—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)