Ring shedding

[1] The separated rings can have both warm or cold cores and play a role in the thermohaline circulation, interocean mixing, and nutrient supply for algae and bacteria.

The exact moment a ring is shed from the current is often unclear and the process behind it is still an active subject of research.

The topography of the ocean floor and incoming eddies from upstream regions could play a role in ring shedding.

Typically, the rings have a diameter of 100 to 400 kilometres (62 to 249 miles), a depth of up to 1,500 metres (4,900 feet), and a temperature anomaly of a few degrees Celsius.

The warm cores rings are easy to observe: due to their temperature anomaly satellites can detect them with infrared images.

[1] Due to geostrophy (and to a lesser extent the expansion of the warmer water), these warm core rings have a higher local sea surface height and can hence also be observed by buoys or satellites using radar altimeters to map the topography of the ocean.

[1][4][9] Cold core rings are more difficult to observe as their initial colder surface is warmed by solar radiation.

Further down the Gulf Stream, along the eastern coast of the United States, ring shedding also takes place, albeit much less frequently.

[1] The rings from the Agulhas current transport about 15 Sverdrup to the Atlantic Ocean, thereby playing an important role in thermohaline circulation.

[3] Cold core rings in the Gulf Stream have higher iron concentrations than the subtropical water in other regions of the Northern Atlantic Ocean.