A Summer Jet in the St Georgeʹs Channel of the Irish Sea

Satellite-tracked drifters released in summer 1997 have revealed a fast, northward flowing jet on the eastern side of St Georgeʹs Channel, between the Celtic and Irish Seas. There is also evidence of a weaker, southward flowing current on the western side of the channel. Satellite imagery and hydrographic measurements support the interpretation that the current is density driven and associated with a meander in the Celtic Sea tidal-mixing front. The jet has implications for fluxes of heat, tracers and contaminants between the Irish and Celtic Seas. It also adds to a growing body of evidence that in summer, on the northwest European shelf, there is a widespread system of localized but intense baroclinic flows associated with the margins of dense bottom-water pools.