The Agulhas leakage of Indian Ocean waters into the Atlantic has been shown to be a key link in global ocean circulation and climate; an increased understanding of this process is therefore of more than just of local interest. While knowledge of the Agulhas leakage has increased over the past 30 years, the precise mechanisms at play and water properties transferred are still not sufficiently documented. This study covers the Agulhas rings heat content and transport, which contribute to the meridional overturning circulation of the global ocean during their route across the South Atlantic Ocean. By applying TOEddies, an eddy detection and tracking algorithm that takes into account eddy merging and splitting, to satellite altimetry maps combined with a colocation of the detected eddies with Argo floats vertical profiles, we are able to document the important heat anomaly characterizing Agulhas rings and their evolution across the Cape Basin and the South Atlantic Ocean. Notwithstanding that in situ data coverage is still limited at the ocean mesoscale, we have estimated an averaged Agulhas rings subsurface heat transport of 2.5 × 10⁻² PW and 1.5 × 10⁻² PW across the eastern and western South Atlantic Ocean, respectively.

中文翻译：

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结合卫星测高仪和Argo分析浮标数据估算南大西洋Agulhas环的热量和传输

Agulhas泄漏印度洋水进入大西洋已被证明是全球海洋环流和气候的关键环节。因此，加深对这一过程的了解不仅仅符合当地利益。尽管过去30年来对Agulhas渗漏的了解有所增加，但仍没有足够的文献证明其发挥作用的精确机理和转移的水质。这项研究涵盖了Agulhas环的热量和传输，这有助于全球海洋在穿越南大西洋的过程中子午翻转环流。通过将TOEddies应用到卫星测高仪地图中的涡流检测和跟踪算法，该算法将涡流的合并和分裂考虑在内，并结合了检测到的涡流与Argo浮标垂直轮廓的共置，我们能够记录到重要的热异常，这些异常是Agulhas环及其在开普盆地和南大西洋上空演化的特征。尽管在海洋中尺度上实地数据的覆盖范围仍然有限，但我们估计了平均Agulhas环地下热传输量为 南大西洋东部和西部分别为2.5×10 ^-2  PW和1.5×10 ^-2 PW。