HR: 10:20h
AN: OS52A-01 INVITED     [Abstracts]
TI: CANEK: 10 Years of Observations and Modeling of the Circulation in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico
AU: * Candela, J
EM: jcandela@cicese.mx
AF: Oceanografía Física, CICESE, Apdo. Postal 2732, Ensenada, BC 22800, Mexico
AU: Sheinbaum, J
EM: julios@cicese.mx
AF: Oceanografía Física, CICESE, Apdo. Postal 2732, Ensenada, BC 22800, Mexico
AU: Ochoa, J
EM: jochoa@cicese.mx
AF: Oceanografía Física, CICESE, Apdo. Postal 2732, Ensenada, BC 22800, Mexico
AU: Badan, A
EM: abadan@cicese.mx
AF: Oceanografía Física, CICESE, Apdo. Postal 2732, Ensenada, BC 22800, Mexico
AB: The studies of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea within the CANEK Program initiated in December 1996 and continue until now. More than 12 oceanographic cruises, the deployment of year-long shallow and deep moorings at several locations within the GM and the Mexican Caribbean and numerical modeling efforts, have permitted to investigate important aspects of the circulation in the region. Among the most important findings of the Program: 1) That the transport through the Yucatan Channel (YC) during (8/1999-7/2001) was 24 Sv, representing a deficit with respect to the transport of the Gulf Stream within 18 degree water characteristic of the Subtropical Atlantic and less than the "expected" 28 Sv. 2) Deep counterflows (from the Gulf of Mexico into the Caribbean Sea) were found on both sides of Yucatan Channel; The deep flow there is intimately related with the extension and penetration of the Loop Current into the Gulf of Mexico. 3) The flow variability in the Mexican Caribbean, including the Yucatan Current, is dominated by the presence of meso-scale eddies of both signs. The vorticity anomalies that flow through the channel directly influence the retraction of the Loop Current and the detachment of anticyclonic eddies, that latter propagate westward, dominating a large part of the observed variability in the Gulf. 4) The circulation on fringing reef lagoons along the Mexican Caribbean is mostly dominated by surface waves breaking over the reef and spilling water inward. These flows are modulated by sea level changes related to the position and intensity of the Yucatan Current. An analysis of these observations in conjunction with satellite altimetry and SST and numerical model simulations, demonstrate the indirect connection between the different basins in the Caribbean Sea, that is modulated by the instability of the prevailing currents in the region
DE: 4223 Descriptive and regional oceanography
DE: 4277 Time series experiments (1872, 3270, 4475)
SC: Ocean Sciences [OS]
MN: 2007 Joint Assembly