Thermohaline staircases in a Caribbean eddy and mechanisms for staircase formation

The structure of a cyclonic eddy in the eastern Caribbean was observed by Caribbean Vorticity Experiment cruise CaVortEx I in August 2003. Prominent thermohaline staircases are evident in profiles of temperature and salinity at locations that appear to correlate with the presence of lateral property gradients and shear within the eddy, although such a connection is less than definitive due to the coarseness of horizontal sampling. These observations are examined in light of predictions from two theories for staircase formation. Aspects of the data are found to be consistent with each, raising the possibility that both mechanisms are operating.