Effect of the continental shelf in seasonal oceanographic conditions at the Northern edge of the Eastern Tropical Pacific

The continental shelf in front of Nayarit is located in the northern limit of the tropical Eastern Pacific, characterized by constituting a convergence zone of different masses of water, forming an area of significant hydrographic variability. Based on satellite remote sensing data and reanalysis between 2003 and 2019 of sea surface temperature (SST), wind stress, Ekman velocity, and geostrophic velocity, the contribution of the seasonal cycle to the variability of the study area were analyzed through climatological means, Hovmöhler diagrams, and Empirical Orthogonal Functions. The results show that in the zone in front of Matanchén Bay (21.5 °N) and the adjacent continental shelf, there is a core of warm surface water. The distribution of the SST is explained by the seasonal pattern of meridional/zonal variability in the thermal gradient, where the EOFs show the influence of the annual scale in both modes, with the only difference being that the first describes the meridional gradient as the dominant signal (66.2%), and the second shows the zonal behavior of the thermal gradient (16.6%). The summer weakening of the wind stress and Ekman speed is the product of the irregular shape of the coastline, the extension of the continental shelf, and the divergence of the North American monsoon around 21°N, whereas during the rest of the year an intensification of these parameters prevailed in front of Cabo Corrientes. On the other hand, the intense geostrophic flow in summer does not contribute to the increase in SST on the continental shelf because it diverges around 22.5°N. Likewise, during the winter, the formation of a cyclonic geostrophic gyre located inside the continental shelf, between the coast and the Marías Islands, stands out.     

Fronts and thermohaline structure of the Brazil–Malvinas Confluence System

Fronts and thermohaline structure of the Brazil–Malvinas Confluence System (BMCS) are studied from climatic data, “Marathon Exp. Leg.8, 1984” data, and Sea surface temperature (SST) data base “ds277-Reynolds” (1981–2000). The South Atlantic Central Water (SACW) is divided in two main types: tropical (TW) and subtropical water (ST). Water masses, Fronts, Inter-Frontal and Frontal Zones are analysed and classified: (a) the water masses: Tropical Low-Salinity Water, Tropical Surface Water, Tropical Tropospheric Water, Subtropical Low-Salinity Water, Subtropical Surface Water, Subtropical Tropospheric Water. T,S characteristics of intermediate, deep and bottom water defined by different authors are confirmed and completed; (b) the Inter-Frontal Zones: Tropical/Brazil Current Zone, Subtropical Zone and Subantarctic Zone; (c) the Frontal Zones: Subtropical, Subantarctic and Polar, and (d) the Fronts: Subtropical Front of the Brazil Current, Principal Subtropical Front, North Subtropical Front, Subtropical Surface Front, South Subtropical Front, Subantarctic Surface Front, Subantarctic Front and Polar Front. Several stable T–S relationships are found below the friction layer and at the Fronts. The maximum gradient of the oceanographic characteristics occurs at the Brazil Current Front, which can be any of the subtropical Fronts, depending on season. Minimum mean depth of the pycnocline coincides with the Fronts of the BMCS, indicating the paths of low-salinity shelf waters into the open ocean. In the work it is shown how to recover the horizontal and vertical thermohaline structure of waters from satellite data RSMAS SST.