Quasi-geostrophic modeling of mixed instabilities in the Gulf Stream near 73°W

In the absence of bottom slope, the phase speeds decrease and the growth rates increase relative to the sloped bottom case for all fluctuations with λ > 200 km; consistent with observations showing Gulf Stream meanders to slow down as they propagate through areas of relaxing bottom slope. Fluctuations with λ > 1000 km propagate upstream with phase speed of the order of ∼ −5 km day−1. The energy conversion rates, integrated over the model cross-sectional area, are predominantly baroclinic for all wavelengths.