Thermohaline fine structure in an oceanographic front from seismic reflection profiling

Many parts of the world's oceans contain layers with contrasting temperature and salinity that produce fine-scale thermohaline structure (1, 2), such as thermohaline staircases (3), which occur in tropical and [...]
We present acoustic images of oceanic thermohaline structure created from marine seismic reflection profiles across the major oceanographic front between the Labrador Current and the North Atlantic Current. The images show that distinct water masses can be mapped, and their internal structure imaged, using low-frequency acoustic reflections from sound speed contrasts at interfaces across which temperature changes. The warm/cold front is characterized by east-dipping reflections generated by thermohaline intrusions in the uppermost 1000 meters of the ocean. Our results imply that marine seismic reflection techniques can provide excellent spatial resolution of important oceanic phenomena, including thermohaline intrusions, internal waves, and eddies.