Seasonal variability of the Canary Current: A numerical studyстатья
Статья опубликована в высокорейтинговом журнале
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Дата последнего поиска статьи во внешних источниках: 29 сентября 2021 г.
Аннотация:A high‐resolution numerical model study of the Canary Basin in the northeastsubtropical Atlantic Ocean is presented. A long‐term climatological solution from theRegional Oceanic Modeling System (ROMS) reveals mesoscale variability associated withthe Azores and Canary Current systems, the northwest African coastal upwelling, and theCanary Island archipelago. The primary result concerns the Canary Current (CanC)which, in the solution, transports ∼3 Sv southward in line with observations. The simulatedCanC has a well‐defined path with pronounced seasonal variability. This variability isshown to be mediated by the westward passage of two large annually excited counterrotatinganomalous structures that originate at the African coast. The anomalies have a sea surfaceexpression, permitting their validation using altimetry and travel at the phase speedof baroclinic planetary (Rossby) waves. The role of nearshore wind stress curl variabilityas a generating mechanism for the anomalies is confirmed through a sensitivity experimentforced by low‐resolution winds. The resulting circulation is weak in comparison to thebase run, but the propagating anomalies are still discernible, so we cannot discount afurther role in their generation being played by annual reversals of the large‐scaleboundary flow that are known to occur along the African margin. An additional sensitivityexperiment, where the Azores Current is removed by closing the Strait of Gibraltarpresents the same anomalies and CanC behavior as the base run, suggesting that the CanCis rather insensitive to upstream variability from the Azores Current.