Tidal mixing fronts: their location, dynamics and biological significance - Introduction to the Physical and Biological Oceanography of Shelf Seas - page 259

55°N

54°N

Irish
Sea

53°N

6°W 5°W 4°W

Figure 8.20 Trajectories of four satellite-tracked drifting buoys in the western Irish Sea,
July 1995. The tracks are shown as bold lines, with the deployment position of each buoy
shown as a filled circle. The dotted lines indicate the extent of stratification in terms of the
potential energy anomaly, F (see Section 6.1.2 ). Adapted from Horsburgh et al., 2000 ,
courtesy of Elsevier.

very well mixed Irish Sea (see Fig. 8.5a ). It is the dynamics of this isolated patch of
stratified water, and particularly the cold pool of water trapped underneath the warm
surface layer, that plays a vital role in the life of the Nephrops. The tracks of drogued,
satellite-tracked buoys deployed in the region (Horsburgh et al., 2000 ) are shown in
Fig. 8.20 . They follow a consistent anticlockwise flow, indicating the presence of a
gyre circulation associated with the isolated patch of stratification. The gyre can
be thought of as a continuous frontal

jet circulating around the mud patch.