A descriptive analysis of the genesis and translation of a dipole vortex from the Agulhas retroflection region

Bibliography: leaves 111-126.An anomalous leakage of Agulhas Current water into the south-east Atlantic Ocean, exhibiting a mushroom-like shape, was observed during routine observations of A VHRR satellite imagery in early December 1996. The development of this anomaly was followed on the sea surface temperature (SST) imagery and it was tentatively identified as a consequence of filament interaction between the Agulhas retroflection and an occluding Agulhas ring. This interpretation prompted a cruise onboard the FR.S Africana with the objective of conducting a hydrographic survey of the Agulhas ring and the associated filament near Cape Town. A descriptive analysis, gleaned from A VHRR satellite imagery and in situ data, of the hydrographic characteristics of a vortex dipole, surveyed during this cruise, is presented in this thesis. An analysis of water mass properties and geostrophic flow patterns determined that an Agulhas ring and a cyclonic eddy, containing Benguela Current water in its core, constituted a dipole vortex in the south-eastern Atlantic Ocean. During the period of the hydrographic survey, the secondary vortex exhibited an anticlockwise rotation of 8. 6°/day around the Agulhas ring A warm filament, originating from the western Agulhas Bank, was entrained between the two counter-rotating eddies, thus resulting in the mixing of Agulhas Bank water into the South Atlantic Ocean. Satellite altimetry and A VHRR imagery were used to "backtrack" the vortex dipole to its origin at the Agulhas retroflectiOn. By combining interpretations from the altimetry and A VHRR imagery, it was possible to describe the complex interactions the dipole displayed with the retroflection and the Agulhas Bank as it franslated in a north-westerly direction. The mushroom configuration, identified earlier on SST imagery, betrayed the presence of an adjacent pair of circulatory features of opposing spm. As the dipole translated northward, it interacted with the Agulhas Bank and the cyclone was strained, becoming a filament as it was forced between the Agulhas ring and the Agulhas Bank. West of Cape Town the dipole was re-established when the cyclone redeveloped, changing the orientation of the dipole so that a filament was drawn directly from the Agulhas Bank

Primary-productivity in Upwelling Systems (PRIMUS)

Conferencia sobre los Sistemas de Afloramiento de Borde Oriental (EBUS): Pasado, Presente y Futuro & Segunda Conferencia Internacional sobre el Sistema de Corrientes de Humboldt, 19-23 de Septiembre de 2022, Lima, PerúThe ESA-supported Primary-productivity in Upwelling Systems (PRIMUS) project aims to provide the best possible characterisation of net primary productivity (NPP) and its relationship to upwelling in Atlantic Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems (EBUS), including the Iberian/Canary and Benguela systems. It will create a 25-year time series of 1-km satellite-derived NPP over the Atlantic, and, experimentally, at higher-resolution (300m) using the unique capabilities of the MERIS and OLCI satellite sensors. PRIMUS will use these data to advance analyses of Atlantic EBUS including temporal and spatial variability in NPP and its statistical relationship to upwelling and climate indices (such as the North Atlantic Oscillation). PRIMUS will also conduct eight further science cases in specific science áreas / regional settings: aquaculture in Galicia; fisheries and eutrophication in the Portuguese upwelling region; potential EBUS impacts on ocean carbón pools; Lagrangian estimates of NPP; and air-sea interaction and acidification impacts. Science cases will make use of EO and in situ data, as well as numerical model outputs (freely available through the EU’s Copernicus and elsewhere) to investigate the 4D character of EBUS, for example linking Lagrangian NPP with sediment traps samples at depth. PRIMUS will also conduct demonstrations that transfer science into solutions for society, working together with scientific, agency, policy and commercial “early-adopters”, building on three science case studies (EBUS and aquaculture; fisheries; and eutrophication monitoring). Furthermore, evaluating transition of data production to operational initiatives such as Copernicus and GMES and Africa and the potential for data exploitation by the European and international ecosystem modelling community. This communication will present initial results from the 25-year NPP time series and high resolution NPP computations as well as selected science casesN

On the warm nearshore bias in Pathfinder monthly SST products over Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems

International audienceUsing in situ sea surface temperature (SST) data and MODIS/TERRA SST, the monthly AVHRR Pathfinder (version 5.0 and 5.2) SST product was evaluated within the four main Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems. A warm bias in the monthly Pathfinder data (previous to version 5.2) was systematically found during summer months in nearshore regions where high SST gradients exist. Based on a climatological average spanning 2000-2009, this summertime bias reached up to 3-5 °C in the California, Humboldt, Canary, and Benguela Upwelling Systems. This warm bias could at least partly explain the cold bias often found in numerical models of coastal upwelling. The last release of Pathfinder (version 5.2, September 2011) clearly improved the bias found on the previous Pathfinder version