HR: 1340h
AN: OS33B-1268    [Abstracts]
TI: Description of an Unrecognized Secondary Upwelling Peak in the Southeastern Caribbean
AU: * Rueda-Roa, D
EM: dignarueda@gmail.com
AF: Institute for Marine Remote Sensing, College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, 140 7th Ave South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701, United States
AU: Ezer, T
EM: tezer@ccpo.odu.edu
AF: Center for Coastal Physical Oceanography, Dept. of Ocean, Earth & Atmospheric Sci., Old Dominion University, 4111 Monarch Way, Norfolk, VA 23508, United States
AU: Muller-Karger, F
EM: carib@marine.usf.edu
AF: Institute for Marine Remote Sensing, College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, 140 7th Ave South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701, United States
AB: Strong trade wind-driven upwelling during winter and early spring has been extensively described in the Southern Caribbean. The two main upwelling areas are: the Southeastern region (Peninsulas of Paria and Araya) and the South-central Caribbean region (Peninsulas of Paraguaná and La Guajira). However, the existence of a secondary short-lived upwelling event around June-August, that occurs when the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone migrates northward and the coastal winds are relatively weak, has been rarely acknowledged in the literature. Ten years of records from the CARIACO time series, located in the southeastern Caribbean, clearly show the secondary upwelling peak. This is also supported by thirteen years of historical records of in situ measurements of sea temperature and water densities of the area. The use of old tide gauge data to study past upwelling cycles is supported by a high correlation (R=0.85, p<0.001) between contemporary monthly means of satellite sea surface temperature (SST) and sea level records obtained from a local tide gauge. Three decades of monthly sea level anomalies which date back to 1948 clearly show the upwelling annual cycle, including the secondary summer peak. Thirteen years of SST weekly means from the Southern Caribbean show that the secondary peak takes place simultaneously in the two upwelling areas, and that it occurs in the same focuses as the main upwelling. The secondary upwelling extends the presence of cool waters (< 25.5° C) in the southern Caribbean for 7 months or more. The results of this research confirm that the secondary upwelling is a regular feature of the whole southern Caribbean upwelling system. On going research will focus on the relation between the secondary upwelling to local and remote forcing
DE: 4223 Descriptive and regional oceanography
DE: 4279 Upwelling and convergences (4964)
SC: Ocean Sciences [OS]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting