Canary Islands eddies and coastal upwelling filaments off North-west Africa
Mesoscale eddies are almost continuously spun off from the Canary Islands constituting a unique eddies source that is not present in other Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems. The main forcing mechanism is the Canary Current perturbation by the islands topography. Wind forcing also contributes to their generation lowering the threshold of the Canary Current intensity for triggering of the eddy shedding process. They rotate initially in solid body rotation losing it when they reach their mature stage. They are also the main source of long lived eddies for the NE subtropical Atlantic building up the Canary Eddy Corridor. This eddy corridor plays an important role as a zonal conduit carrying both physical and biogeochemical properties from the cold nutrient-rich upwelling eastern boundary towards the interior ocean. Coastal upwelling filaments are recurrently observed near Cape Ghir, Cape Jubi, Cape Bojador and Cape Blanc. Although they have common characteristics, such as low temperature and high chlorophyll-a signals, their structure and origin are different. They play a key role in transferring biogeochemical properties from the coastal upwelling eutrophic region towards the interior oligotrophic subtropical gyre, contributing thus to its enrichment and to the setting up of the Coastal Transition Zone.
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| Format: | Report Section biblioteca |
| Language: | English |
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IOC-UNESCO
2015
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| Subjects: | Mesoscale eddies, Upwelling filaments, Canary Eddy Corridor, CCLME, |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1834/9181 |
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