Between May 3, 1997 and May 29, 1997, an unusal event took place that had previously not been documented. During this event, both a warm core ring and cold core ring were formed simultaneously at approximately the same degree of longitude. We have termed this event a Coincident Ring Formation (CRF).

The image to the right shows the Gulf Stream on May 7, 1997. A warm core ring near 65°W is interacting with the Gulf Stream, however this ring soon propagates westward and is not part of the CRF process. To better depict the Gulf Stream, its northern edge is drawn and arrows show the direction of flow. Between 63-61°W a large amplitude meander is present.

This image shows the same region on May 29, 1997. Both a warm core ring and a cold core are easily visible. Both these rings formed between May 20 - 29. The image below depicts the dynamics of the Gulf Stream during May 1997. The positions of the Gulf Stream were taken directly from satellite images and reproduced below to show the coincident ring formation. As the figure indicates, the warm core ring and cold core ring separate from the Gulf Stream on approximately the same day.

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