Upwelling around Cabo Frio, Brazil: The importance of wind stress curl
نویسندگان
چکیده
[1] Data from the SeaWinds scatterometer on the QuikSCAT satellite are used to estimate upwelling around Cabo Frio, Brazil, due to Ekman transport and Ekman pumping. The region close to shore (up to 200 km from the coast) is characterized by negative wind stress curl (upwelling favorable) year-round, with maximum values during summer, and minimum values during fall. Integrated values from São Sebastião Island to Vitória reveal that during summer, Ekman pumping and Ekman transport are of the same magnitude in the region. Estimates of Ekman transport are relatively uniform along the coast during summer. Ekman pumping, on the other hand, is strongly enhanced between São Sebastião Island and Vitória, the region where the coldest water on satellite images is frequently found. This suggests that wind stress curl-driven upwelling is a major contributor to the coldest surface water being found near Cabo Frio. Citation: Castelao, R. M., and J. A. Barth (2006), Upwelling around Cabo Frio, Brazil: The importance of wind stress curl, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L03602, doi:10.1029/2005GL025182.
منابع مشابه
Reductions in midlatitude upwelling-favorable winds implied by weaker large-scale Pliocene SST gradients
The early-to-mid Pliocene (3–5.3 Ma) is the most recent geologic period of significant global warmth. Proxy records of Pliocene sea surface temperature (SST) indicate significant and still unexplained warm anomalies of 3∘C–9∘C in midlatitude eastern boundary currents, where present-day cool temperatures are maintained by wind-driven upwelling. Here we quantify the effect of large-scale Pliocene...
متن کاملObservational description of the atmospheric and oceanic boundary layers over the Atlantic Ocean
• Abstract: Time evolution of atmospheric and oceanic boundary layers are described for an upwelling region in the Atlantic Ocean located in Cabo Frio, Brazil (23°00'S, 42°08'W). The observations were obtained during a field campaign carried out by the "Instituto de Estudos do Mar Almirante Paulo Moreira", on board of the oceanographic ship Antares of the Brazilian Navy, between July 7 and 10 o...
متن کاملBenthic megafauna communities under the influence of the South Atlantic Central Water intrusion onto the Brazilian SE shelf: A comparison between an upwelling and a non-upwelling ecosystem
The structure and dynamics of the benthic invertebrate megafauna of the Southeastern Brazilian shelf were studied over a 2-year period. Two regions presenting different oceanographic conditions, Ubatuba-SP and Cabo Frio-RJ were compared in terms of biomass, density of organisms and species richness. Two to three 30-min tows were undertaken at each of the stations, located at 40 and 100m isobath...
متن کاملInfluence of ocean winds on the pelagic ecosystem in upwelling regions.
Upwelling of nutrient-rich, subsurface water sustains high productivity in the ocean's eastern boundary currents. These ecosystems support a rate of fish harvest nearly 100 times the global mean and account for >20% of the world's marine fish catch. Environmental variability is thought to be the major cause of the decadal-scale biomass fluctuations characteristic of fish populations in these re...
متن کاملUpwelling source depth in the presence of nearshore wind stress curl
[1] The influence of nearshore wind stress curl on the relative partitioning of bottom boundary layer (BBL) and interior transport within an idealized, two-dimensional coastal upwelling system is studied theoretically and using a numerical model. A nearshore reduction in upwelling favorable wind stress amplitude (1) reduces the width of the inner shelf, (2) reduces the local wind-driven Ekman t...
متن کامل