Título del libro: Circulation In The Gulf Of Mexico: Observations And Models
Título del capítulo: The Seasonal Variability of Continental Shelf Circulation in the Northern and Western Gulf of Mexico from a High-Resolution Numerical Model
JORGE ZAVALA HIDALGO;
Autores externos:
Idioma:
Inglés
Año de publicación:
2013
Palabras clave:
Climatology; Numerical models; Oceanography; Remote sensing; Water; Biological properties; Chlorophyll concentration; High-resolution numerical models; Interaction mechanisms; Me-xico; Outer continental shelves; Western Gulf of Mexico; Wind-driven circulation; Water resources
Resumen:
The seasonal variability of circulation on the continental shelves of the northern and western Gulf of Mexico is explained using observational data and a high-resolution numerical model. It is shown that the primarily wind-driven circulation governs the salinity field on the shelves by transporting low-salinity water formed by river discharge along seasonally shifting pathways. When buoyant low-salinity water is present over the outer continental shelf near the shelf edge, it is available for entrainment in currents associated with the mesosocale eddy field of the Gulf. The preferred locations for this cross-shelf export of fresh water shift seasonally as the shelf circulation transports low-salinity water along shelf, and impact the upper ocean salinity field throughout the Gulf. A low-salinity tongue is found in the monthly climatology in the Bay of Campeche during the winter months, and another extends southeastward from De Soto Canyon along the eastern edge of the Loop Current during the summer. A similar pattern can be seen in the monthly climatology chlorophyll concentration produced from remotely-sensed ocean color data, suggesting that the biological properties of the surface waters of the Gulf may be controlled by this combined wind-driven shelf circulation and eddy interaction mechanism responsible for redistributing river-discharged fresh water. © 2005 by the American Geophysical Union.
Entidades citadas de la UNAM:
ISBN:
9781118666166
Editorial:
Wiley Blackwell Nombre de la publicación:
The Seasonal Variability of Continental Shelf Circulation in the Northern and Western Gulf of Mexico from a High-Resolution Numerical Model
Página inicial:
203
Página final:
218
