A modeling study of the coastal eastern boundary current system off Iberia and Morocco

Batteen, Mary L.; Martinez, Johnny R.; Bryan, Daniel W.; Buch, Eric J.

doi:10.1029/2000jc900026

Cited by 42 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Although the paper is centered on processes, the proper simulation of the upwelling filament constitutes a first achievement. In particular, with the climatological configuration implemented here, it is demonstrated that forcing with multi-year averaged fields is sufficient to generate filaments at the right location and with realistic spatial and temporal dimensions, in agreement with Batteen et al (2000).…”

Section: Baseline Simulation Resultssupporting

confidence: 59%

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Generation of the Cape Ghir upwelling filament: A numerical study

et al. 2012

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Filaments are narrow, shallow structures of cool water originating from the coast. They are typical features of the four main eastern boundary upwelling systems (EBUS). In spite of their significant biological and chemical roles, through the offshore exportation of nutrient-rich waters, the physical processes that generate them are still not completely understood. This paper is a process-oriented study of filament generation mechanisms. Our goal is twofold: firstly, to obtain a numerical solution able to correctly represent the characteristics of the filament off Cape Ghir (30• 38'N, northwest Africa) in the Canary EBUS and secondly, to explain its formation by a simple mechanism based on the balance of potential vorticity.The first goal is achieved by the use of the ROMS model (Regional Ocean Modeling System) with embedded domains around Cape Ghir, with a horizontal resolution going up to 1.5 km for the finest domain. The latter gets its initial and boundary conditions from a parent solution and is forced by climatological, high-resolution atmospheric fields. The modeled filaments display spatial, temporal and physical characteristics in agreement with the available in situ and satellite observations. This model solution is used as a reference to compare the results with a set of process-oriented experiments. These experiments allow us to reach the second objective. The solutions serve to highlight the contributions of various processes to the filament generation. Since the study is focused on general processes present under climatological forcing conditions, inter-annual forcing is not necessary.The underlying idea for the filament generation is the balance of potential vorticity in the Canary EBUS: the upwelling jet is characterized by negative relative vorticity and flows southward along a narrow band of uniform potential vorticity. In the vicinity of the cape, an injection of relative vorticity induced by the wind breaks the existing vorticity balance. The upwelling jet is prevented from continuing its way southward and has to turn offshore to follow lines of equal potential vorticity.The model results highlight the essential role of wind, associated with the particular topography (coastline and bottom) around the cape. The mechanism presented here is general and thus can be applied to other EBUS.

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Section: Baseline Simulation Resultssupporting

confidence: 59%

“…With a 9 km-resolution model forced by seasonal wind, Batteen et al (2000) studied the effects of the coastline on the eddy and filament structures in the Canary Current system. Despite using a flat bottom (4500 m depth), they were able to obtain filaments in agreement with field measurements and attached to the main capes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Generation of the Cape Ghir upwelling filament: A numerical study

et al. 2012

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“…Second, the four EBUS exhibit similar large-scale dynamics with the presence of near-coastal equatorward currents that carry relatively fresh and cold water in the surface layers from higher latitudes [Strub et al, 1998[Strub et al, , 2013Batteen et al, 2000;Hardman-Mountford et al, 2003;Mach ın et al, 2006]. This surface circulation is mainly wind-forced, but also reinforced, through geostrophic adjustment, by the cross-shore temperature (and density) gradients that separate relatively cold upwelled coastal water from warm offshore water.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The general physical properties of mesoscale eddies have been extensively described within each of the four EBUS in particular from sea-level anomaly (SLA) maps acquired from multimissions altimeters [Chaigneau et al, 2008;Rubio et al, 2009;Sangr a et al, 2009;Kurian et al, 2011], and from numerical simulations [e.g., Colas et al, 2012;Kurian et al, 2011;Batteen et al, 2000;Rubio et al, 2009]. Comparisons of eddy dynamics between EBUS have also been performed [e.g., Morrow et al, 2004;Marchesiello and Estrade, 2007;Capet et al, 2008Capet et al, , 2014Chaigneau et al, 2009].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Main eddy vertical structures observed in the four major Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems

2015

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In the four major Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems (EBUS), mesoscale eddies are known to modulate the biological productivity and transport near‐coastal seawater properties toward the offshore ocean, however little is known about their main characteristics and vertical structure. This study combines 10 years of satellite‐altimetry data and Argo float profiles of temperature and salinity, and our main goals are (i) to describe the main surface characteristics of long‐lived eddies formed in each EBUS and their evolution, and (ii) to depict the main vertical structure of the eddy‐types that coexist in these regions. A clustering analysis of the Argo profiles surfacing within the long‐lived eddies of each EBUS allows us to determine the proportion of surface and subsurface‐intensified eddies in each region, and to describe their vertical structure in terms of temperature, salinity and dynamic height anomalies. In the Peru‐Chile Upwelling System, 55% of the sampled anticyclonic eddies (AEs) have subsurface‐intensified maximum temperature and salinity anomalies below the seasonal pycnocline, whereas 88% of the cyclonic eddies (CEs) are surface‐intensified. In the California Upwelling System, only 30% of the AEs are subsurface‐intensified and all of the CEs show maximum anomalies above the pycnocline. In the Canary Upwelling System, ∼40% of the AEs and ∼60% of the CEs are subsurface‐intensified with maximum anomalies extending down to 800 m depth. Finally, the Benguela Upwelling System tends to generate ∼40–50% of weak surface‐intensified eddies and ∼50–60% of much stronger subsurface‐intensified eddies with a clear geographical distribution. The mechanisms involved in the observed eddy vertical shapes are discussed.

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“…Hence, we used the regression formula U crit = 1.763SCL − 0.262 (Revelles et al, 2007), where U crit is a parameter that determines the maximum cruise speed that an aquatic animal could sustain without resulting in muscular fatigue (Reidy et al, 2000). Mean velocities of the Canarian (Batten et al, 2000) and Andalusian (Tsimplis and Bryden, 2000) currents were used as U crit values to calculate the size threshold for independent swimming capacity (32 cm for Canarian loggerheads and 36 cm of SCL for Andalusian juveniles). Juveniles at this size or larger are expected to be able to move, as least partly, independently of currents.…”

Section: Sample and Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in spatial distribution of juvenile loggerhead turtles in the eastern Atlantic and western Mediterranean Sea

Monzón‐Argüello

Rico

Carreras

et al. 2009

Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology

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a b s t r a c t Loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) originating from the Western Atlantic carry out one of the largest marine migrations, reaching the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea. It has been proposed that this transatlantic journey is simply a consequence of drifting, with the lack of a target destination and a passive dispersal with oceanic currents. This predicts that the size of the source populations and geographic distance to the feeding grounds should play important roles in defining stock composition in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea. Under this scenario, near pelagic stocks would have no genetic structure, and would be composed of similar cohorts from regional rookeries. To address this question, we sampled individuals from one important eastern Atlantic feeding ground, the Canary Islands, and sequenced a fragment of the mitochondrial DNA control region. We compared the composition of this feeding stock with published data of other proximal areas: Madeira, Azores and Andalusia. "Rookery-centric" mixed stock analysis showed that the distribution of loggerhead sea turtles along the eastern Atlantic feeding grounds was in latitudinal accordance to their natal origin: loggerhead turtles from Florida were significantly more abundant in Azores (30%) than in Canary Islands (13%), while those from Mexico had a poor representation in Azores (13%) but were more prevalent in Canary Islands (34%). Also, genetic stability in temporal and size analyses of the Canary Island aggregation was found, showing a long period of residency. These results indicate a nonrandom distribution of loggerhead juveniles in oceanic foraging grounds. We discuss possible explanations to this latitudinal variation..

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A modeling study of the coastal eastern boundary current system off Iberia and Morocco

Cited by 42 publications

References 40 publications

Generation of the Cape Ghir upwelling filament: A numerical study

Generation of the Cape Ghir upwelling filament: A numerical study

Main eddy vertical structures observed in the four major Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems

Variation in spatial distribution of juvenile loggerhead turtles in the eastern Atlantic and western Mediterranean Sea

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