Seasonality and anomalies of sea surface temperature off the coast of Nayarit, Mexico

Abstract

Sea surface temperature (SST) harmonic and empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analyses covering 18 years were performed for the area located from 114°to 105°W and from 18°to 25°N. The results indicate that the influence of the annual signal predominates over the semiannual signal, and the closer to the coast, the stronger the annual harmonic. Several interannual anomalies arose that are connected with the main global indexes, especially the Oceanic Niño Index. Pearson correlations between the first temporal mode of the SST and regional rainfalls in Nayarit indicate that maximum correlations (r>0.7) are observed when there is a +1-month lag between the series. However, this result indicates that SST is delayed with 1 month after rainfall occurrence, which shows that the dominant influence in this relationship is not the SST forcing.

Role of circulation scales and water mass distributions on larval fish habitats in the Eastern Tropical Pacific off Mexico

“…According to Palacios‐Hernández et al . [], the annual sea surface temperature (SST) in the area shown in Figure , reaches its maximum values between the end of August and the beginning of September.…”

Differences in Growth and Calcification Rates in the Reef-Building Coral Porites lobata: The Implications of Morphotype and Gender on Coral Growth

“…Other massive forms such as massive and coralliths are distributed irregularly on flat rocky and calcareous bottom at 4-8 m (CONANP, 2007). The sea surface temperature (SST) of the zone is influenced mainly by two inter-annual transitional ocean currents, the California Current (CC) brings SST of 18-21 • C from January to March (Shea et al, 1992;Kessler, 2006;Pennington et al, 2006;Pantoja et al, 2012), and the Mexican Costal Current (MCC) is characterized by SST of 27-30 • C between July and November (da Silva et al, 1994;Kessler, 2006;Pennington et al, 2006;Palacios-Hernández et al, 2010;Pantoja et al, 2012). Several authors have reported periodical temperature anomalies driven by El Niño-Southern Oscillation events with both ElNiño (+3 • C; SST) and LaNiña (−4 • C; SST) phases which has caused massive coral bleaching and mortalities episodes (Glynn, 2000;Carriquiry et al, 2001;Reyes-Bonilla et al, 2002;Fiedler and Talley, 2006;Kessler, 2006;Wang and Fiedler, 2006;Cupul-Magaña and Calderón-Aguilera, 2008).…”

Successful sexual reproduction of the scleractinian coral Porites panamensis: Evidence of planktonic larvae and recruitment

“…The study area located near the northern limit of the ETP (Figure ) is characterized as an oceanographic transition zone with highly variable, mixed water conditions resulting from the convergence of three ocean currents: the California current (low temperature and salinity), the Costa Rica coastal current (warm temperature, low density, and northward flow), and the Gulf of California current (cold temperature, high density, and southward transport; Pennington et al., ; Wyrtki, ). In the study area, the maximum and minimum annual sea temperatures and salinity range 18–35°C and 32.7–37.1, respectively, with a thermocline at 20–40 m. Seasonal upwelling occurs from December to April (Palacios‐Hernández, Carrillo, Filonov, Brito‐Castillo, & Cabrera Ramos, ; Shea, Trenberth, & Reynolds, ). The region is influenced by ENSO events, which generate positive and negative temperature anomalies that have caused mass coral bleaching events with a high mortality rate (Glynn, ; Glynn & Ault, ; Kessler, ; Reyes‐Bonilla et al., ).…”