Islands as eddy transformation and generation hotspots: Cabo Verde case study

Cardoso, Cláudio; Caldeira, Rui; Relvas, Paulo; Stegner, Alexandre

doi:10.1016/j.pocean.2020.102271

Cited by 15 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 146 publications

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“…Such dynamic variability at the Mauritania coast is expected to affect the Cabo Verde islands, located 450-600 km west. For example, filaments rich in Chlorophyll a have been observed to reach the archipelago during the upwelling season (Lathuilière et al, 2008;Ohde and Siegel, 2010), whereas eddies generated by the dynamic instabilities of the Mauritania Current (Lázaro et al, 2005) and by the interaction of coastal currents with topography (Schütte et al, 2016) are often blocked by the Cabo-Verdian islands as they propagate westward (Cardoso et al, 2020).…”

Section: Oceanographic Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Three of the drifters leaving Canaries reach the Cabo Verde archipelago as they float in the easternmost branches of the Canary and North Equatorial Currents (Figures 3A, 1A), being the only common trajectories between Cabo Verde and the other archipelagos of the Macaronesia (Table 2). Although Cabo Verde lies at the southern limit of the North Atlantic Gyre, the archipelago is predominantly exposed to westward drifters released along the Northwestern African coast, most likely advected by the seasonal Mauritania Current (dashed arrow in Figure 1A; Lázaro et al, 2005), upwelling filaments (Lathuilière et al, 2008;Ohde and Siegel, 2010) or coastal-generated eddies (Schütte et al, 2016;Cardoso et al, 2020). Nevertheless, the eastward-flowing North Equatorial Counter Current can still be responsible for the advection of drifters released south of the archipelago.…”

Section: Drifter Trajectoriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The major pathway for incoming B surface particles is depicted by the high proportions of particles flowing along the Northwestern African coast. Naturally, these particles are exposed to persistent trade winds (Figure 1B; Cardoso et al, 2020), which in turn are partly responsible for the equatorward flow of the Canary Current (Barton, 2001) and for the initial southwestward flow of the North Equatorial Current (Lázaro et al, 2005). On the other hand, the major pathway of incoming B mixed particles is depicted by the high proportions of particles that connect the archipelago to the Northwestern African coast in the east.…”

Section: Regional Pathwaysmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(iii) by the Mauritanian Current that is active during summer and autumn (Supplementary Figures 2O,P; Lázaro et al, 2005); (iv) or by westward-propagating eddies pinching off from the Northwestern African coast (Schütte et al, 2016;Cardoso et al, 2020). Another characteristic that distinguishes Cabo Verde from the other archipelagos of the Macaronesia is the fact that B mixed particles floating in the South Atlantic or in South American coastal regions can reach the Cabo Verde islands directly through the eastward North Equatorial Counter Current (Figure 4H).…”

Section: Regional Pathwaysmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given the unique exposure of Cabo Verde to the complex interaction of large-scale currents and features (Figure 1A; Cardoso et al, 2020), Cabo Verde is the only archipelago in which intercepting particles can approach from very distinct directions (Figures 5F,H). Furthermore, B surface particles intercepting Cabo Verde are the ones that cover the broadest area in a relatively short period of time, connecting the archipelago to coastal regions that extend from Guinea (10 • N) to the British Isles (50 • N) in up to ∼9 months travel time (Figure 5F).…”

Section: Particles Travel Timementioning

confidence: 99%

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Modeling the Exposure of the Macaronesia Islands (NE Atlantic) to Marine Plastic Pollution

Cardoso

Caldeira

2021

Front. Mar. Sci.

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The constant increase of marine plastic pollution poses an unprecedented risk to oceanic islands, which become increasingly exposed to a hazard of which they have very little control. Located in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean, the Macaronesia is comprised by the Azores, Madeira, Canary Islands, and Cabo Verde. Although past studies suggest that most plastic items collected on these islands are from offshore regions, their actual sources remain unclear to present date. As such, we focus on the characterization of the potential sources and pathways of plastic particles reaching the Macaronesia archipelagos. This is achieved by combining modeled datasets for ocean currents, winds and waves with a Lagrangian tool used to track virtual particles released around the archipelagos for a 10-year period, making a distinction between surface and submerged particles. Global drifter trajectories are also assessed, selecting those that intercept the archipelagos. Our results demonstrate that the North Atlantic subtropical gyre is the most conspicuous feature in particles and drifter trajectories. The Gulf Stream acts as the main pathway for all archipelagos at a regional scale, though with less significance to Cabo Verde. Surface particles are connected to regional sources in a shorter timescale than mixed particles, mainly because of the wind. Intercepting high-windage particle trajectories are dominant at the center of the North Atlantic subtropical gyre, demonstrating that particles originating from the North Atlantic “garbage patch” are most likely to intercept the archipelagos if considerably exposed to the wind. Regarding the connectivity to sources, all archipelagos are significantly exposed to areas of intensive fishing activity, mainly those located in the Gulf Stream (Azores), in international waters off the Portuguese coast (Madeira and Canary Islands) and along the Northwestern African coast (Cabo Verde). The east coasts of Central and North America are the main sources of land-based particles reaching the Azores, Madeira, and Canary Islands, whereas the Northwestern African coast is the main source for land-based particles reaching Cabo Verde. Our results demonstrate how vulnerable the Macaronesian archipelagos are to marine plastic pollution, highlighting the urgency for international cooperation to mitigate the exposure of oceanic islands to marine plastic pollution.

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