Surface Current Variability in the Tropical Atlantic Ernesto Muoz

Academic Affiliation, Fall 2003: Graduate Student, University of Maryland at College Park SOARS Summer 2003 Science Research Mentors: David D. Adamec and Antonio J. Busalacchi Writing and Communication Mentor: Pat Weis-Taylor ABSTRACT It is important to understand the tropical oceanic circulation because of its effects on global climate. The bifurcation of the South Equatorial Current (SEC) might have significant effects on regional climates as a result of the contributions of mass and heat flowing north or south. The objectives of this study were to determine the seasonal variability of the surface currents of the tropical Atlantic and to analyze the bifurcation of the Atlantic SEC. The Ocean Surface Current Analyses Real time (OSCAR) data set of velocity was analyzed in addition to dynamic height from the World Ocean Atlas and wind stress from Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I). OSCAR data were used to compute the seasonal climatology of the surface current velocity. The total velocity was computed by adding a geostrophic component, an Ekman component and a buoyancy gradient component. From the SSM/I wind stress, the curl was computed and lines where the wind stress curl was zero were identified as boundaries of the oceanic gyres. The coastal split of dynamic height contours was used as an estimate of the bifurcation of the SEC. The SEC was observed as having two branches with different behavior throughout the year. The annual means of dynamic height and wind stress curl indicate a region of bifurcation south of the equator between 10S and 18S. For March, the geostrophic velocity shows divergence close to the coast indicating a bifurcation while the total velocity does not show divergence south of the equator.

This work was done under the auspices of the Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Science (SOARS) program of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, with funding from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA

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INTRODUCTION A major challenge of determining the velocity of oceanic currents from tropical regions is the inapplicability of the geostrophic approximation at and close to the equator. This has posed a limitation in the process of a thorough description and definition of the equatorial currents. Still, it is important to improve the understanding of the circulation of the tropical oceans. Studying the system of currents of the tropical Atlantic is important because of its unique interhemispheric mass and heat transport from the South Atlantic Ocean to the North Atlantic Ocean. Two examples of previous studies of the tropical Atlantic oceanic circulation are Richardson and Walsh (1986) and Richardson and McKee (1984). These are also two examples of studies from the era previous to the era with satellite-based data. Both studies used historical ship drifts to estimate the velocity of currents at the surface of the ocean. From these studies the major currents observed in tropical Atlantic Ocean were: the South Equatorial Current (SEC), the North Brazil Current (NBC), the Guinea Current (GC), the North Equatorial Countercurrent (NECC) and the North Equatorial Current (NEC) as shown in Figure 1. Figure 1 also shows a bifurcation or split of the SEC as it reaches the western boundary of the basin. This bifurcation is significant because of its implication in the transport of heat and salinity to the north and to the south of the basin that affect the regional climates. This mesoscale feature has received little attention compared to its counterparts in the Pacific Ocean. The present study has two objectives. One objective is to describe the seasonal variability of the velocity of the tropical Atlantic surface currents from satellite-derived data. Also, we address the question, does the South Equatorial Current bifurcate?

Figure 1. The region under study showing the major currents. The region of bifurcation is encircled.

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DATA In this study surface current velocity, dynamic height and wind stress were analyzed. The region studied was the area between 25N-25S, 70W-20E. The various data sets are listed in Table 1. Table 1. List of Data Sets. Field/Parameter Product Period Definition Reference Surface Current OSCAR October 1992 Bonjean and 1 x 1 Velocity December 2002 Lagerloef (2002) Wind Stress SSM/I July 1987 Atlas et al. 1 x 1 December 2001 (1996) Dynamic Height WOA Climatological Levitus et al. 1 x 1 (1994) Surface Current Velocity Data The surface current velocity data set was produced as described in Bonjean and Lagerloef (2002). This dataset is the product of a technique directed to solve the issue of the geostrophic approximation at the equator. This technique has been described and validated by Bonjean and Lagerloef (2002) in the Pacific Ocean. The data set contains three components of velocity. These are: a geostrophic velocity derived from altimetry, an Ekman/Stommel-dynamics velocity derived from remotely-sensed wind observations and a buoyancy gradient component. The total surface current velocity is obtained by adding the geostrophic, Ekman and buoyancy velocities. Bonjean and Lagerloef (2002) used Topex/Poseidon and Jason-1 altimetry to compute the geostrophic velocity. For the Ekman/Stommel-dynamics velocity they used a composite of Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) and QuickSCAT wind data. Wind Stress Data In addition to the current velocity, wind stress was analyzed because of its inherent relation to the oceanic upper layer. The wind stress was obtained from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) wind product from Atlas et al. (1996). We used version 10 of level 3. The SSM/I data is available from July 1987 to December 2001. Dynamic Height Data Dynamic height is sea surface height in terms of geopotential (Colling, 2002) and is expressed in dynamic centimeters. It was calculated using 1000 m as the reference level of no motion. The dynamic height dataset consisted of 12 monthly averages from hydrographic data and it was produced as described in Levitus et al., 1994. TECHNICAL APPROACH The monthly and seasonal climatologies were computed to identify how the surface current velocity and the wind stress change throughout the year. The monthly and seasonal climatologies were computed for the data sets of surface current velocity and of wind stress. The dynamic height data set had this technique already applied. The product or the result of the monthly climatology is 12 values each correspondent to a different month of the year. That is, the monthly climatology is obtained by averaging the January of all years involved, the February of all years involved, and so on for each month of the year. The seasonal climatology is obtained in the same manner but by averaging seasons instead of months. For the seasonal climatology

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the seasonal averages were from January to March for Winter, from April to June for Spring, from July to September for Summer and from October to December for Fall. For surface current velocity the monthly and seasonal climatologies were calculated using data from January 1993 to December 2002. For the wind stress, the climatologies were calculated using data from January 1993 to December 2001. To reach my objective of describing the variability of the surface current velocity I observed how the various currents changed from season to season and from month to month based on the seasonal and monthly climatologies. The annual mean was calculated from the monthly climatology for the three different fields. The standard deviation was computed for the zonal and meridional components of the total velocity and the wind stress curl was computed. The wind stress curl is the tendency of the wind to cause rotation (Colling, 2002). Where the curl is zero gives an estimate of the oceanic gyres and of the region where the bifurcation should occur (Pond and Pickard, 1983). From the wind stress curl I identified where the curl is zero to observe the boundaries of the oceanic gyres. RESULTS and DISCUSSION Seasonal Variability of Surface Current Velocity The calculated annual mean of the surface current velocity is shown in Figure 2. It shows the major currents indicated above. The SEC is seen south of 3N. A main branch of the SEC is observed south of the equator and north of 7S across the basin. This main branch has maxima greater than 25 cm/s. The branch north of the equator stretches from the western boundary to 10W and is predominantly a northwestward flow. We will refer to the branch north of the equator and to the branch south of the equator as Northern South Equatorial Current (NSEC) and Southern South Equatorial Current (SSEC) respectively. The GC is observed from (5N, 10W) to (2S, 10E) in the Gulf of Guinea. The NECC is seen across the basin from 3N to 7N. The region of maximum values for the NECC is from 25W to the eastern boundary and from 7N to 4N with values of 20 cm/s. The NEC is flowing west-northwestward to the north of the NECC.

Africa

South America

Figure 2. Annual mean of the surface current velocity.

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The seasonal climatology and variability of the surface current velocity resulting from our data analysis is shown in Figure 3 and summarized in Table 2. From the seasonal climatology the GC shows a semi-annual cycle being stronger and wider during Winter and Summer. The SSEC is stronger during spring and it is also at this time when it has the greatest expansion. The region of maximum values of the NSEC shifts throughout the year from the center to the western region of the basin. The NECC is stronger during Fall.

Figure 3. Seasonal cycle of the surface current velocity. Table 2. Summary of Surface Current Velocity Variability Current Region of maximum values NSEC Not observed SSEC From western boundary to 15W and from equator to 4S GC From (15W,5N) to (5E,0N) NECC Not observed Spring NSEC From 25W to 5W and from 3N to equator SSEC From western boundary to 2W and from equator to 6S GC From 10W to the east along the coast (4N) NECC From 23W to the east and from 8N to 6N Summer NSEC From western boundary to 25W and from 3N to equator SSEC From western boundary to 5W and from 2S to 6S GC From 7W to 4E and from the coast to 2S NECC From 8N to 5N and across the basin Fall NSEC From western boundary to 33W and from 3N to equator SSEC From 33W to 15W and from 1S to 4S GC From 12W to the east and from coast to equator NECC From 45W to 33W and from 8N to 4N Season Winter SOARS 2003, Ernesto Munoz, 5

Magnitude ~ 30 cm/s ~ 30 cm/s > 30 cm/s > 30 cm/s ~ 25 cm/s ~ 25 cm/s ~ 28 cm/s ~ 25 cm/s > 30 cm/s > 30 cm/s ~ 30 cm/s ~ 25 cm/s Very weak ~ 30 cm/s

The annual mean of the total velocity and geostrophic velocity and their corresponding meridional components are shown in Figure 4. The main difference between these two is that while the total velocity diverges along the equator (as seen from the meridional component) the geostrophic velocity converges along the equator. This gives an indication of the possible different behavior observed depending on how the velocity was calculated.

Figure 4. Annual mean of total velocity (top-left), annual mean of geostrophic velocity (topright), meridional component of total velocity (bottom-left) and meridional component of geostrophic velocity (bottom-right). Contour interval is 2. Positive values indicate northward direction and negative southward direction. Shades of orange are positive and shades of blue are negative. Bifurcation of the South Equatorial Current The bifurcation of the South Equatorial Current (SEC) can be estimated from the divergence of the oceanic gyres, from the split of dynamic height contours or from the meridional component of velocity. As has been stated, the regions or lines where the wind stress curl is zero indicate the boundaries of the oceanic gyres. From the annual mean of wind stress curl, the regions of values close to zero are shown in Figure 5. One such region is observed reaching the coast of South America between 8S to 12S. In this case it corresponds to a region of divergence and it gives an indication of a possible bifurcation of the SEC. This latitude range is in agreement with Peterson and Stramma (1991) who observed a bifurcation of the SEC off the equator. From the annual mean of dynamic height (Figure 6), the split of contours is observed south of the equator between 12S and 16S. The split of dynamic height contours correspond to divergence and in this case to a bifurcation of the SEC.

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Figure 5. Wind stress curl values close to zero. Blue lines are positive and black lines are negative. Contour interval is 0.0001 and the zero values lie between the blue and the black lines. The region indicating divergence south of the equator is encircled.

Figure 6. Dynamic height (dyn cm). Contour interval is 1. Orange indicate high dynamic height and blue indicate low dynamic height. The split of the contours indicating the bifurcation of the South Equatorial Current is encircled.

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Figure 7 shows the values of March for the meridional component of the total and geostrophic velocity. Figure 7 also shows the values of March for dynamic height and wind stress curl. The geostrophic velocity shows a divergence or bifurcation south of the equator between 15S and 18S while the total velocity doesnt show a divergence or bifurcation south of the equator. The region of bifurcation observed from the geostrophic velocity is in correspondence with the split of dynamic height contours (between 13S and 18S) and from the zero curl values (between 6S and 12S) which are both south of the equator.

Figure 7. Climatological March for total velocity (top-left), geostrophic velocity (top-right), dynamic height (bottom-left) and zero wind stress curl (bottom-right). The region of bifurcation for each case is encircled. The total velocity does not show a bifurcation south of the equator of the South Equatorial Current. CONCLUSIONS The seasonal variability of the surface current velocity as observed from the seasonal climatology shows a Southern South Equatorial Current present year round and a Northern South Equatorial Current not present year round. The Guinea Current has a semi annual cycle while the North Equatorial Countercurrent has an annual cycle being stronger during July through September. The bifurcation of the South Equatorial Current is not observed from the total velocity (geostrophic+Ekman+buoyancy). However, from the geostrophic velocity a bifurcation is observed south of the equator between 15S and 18S. This region is in correspondence with the region of bifurcation estimated from dynamic height and from wind stress curl. FUTURE WORK In the future, we will study the contribution of the three components of velocity to the total velocity to determine how much each separate component is contributing to the total velocity. That is, how large is the role of each of the surface current velocity components in the total SOARS 2003, Ernesto Munoz, 8

velocity? We will also study the interannual variability from the anomalies or the deviations from the long-term average. Also, we will try to answer if the mechanisms that govern the Pacific South Equatorial Currents are the same for the Atlantic South Equatorial Current. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author would like to thank David D. Adamec, Antonio J. Busalacchi and Pat WeisTaylor for their helpful comments. REFERENCES Atlas, R., R. Hoffman, S. Bloom, J. Jusem, and J. Ardizzone, 1996: A multi-year global surface wind velocity data set using SSM/I wind observations. Bull Am. Meteorol. Soc., 77, 869-882. Bonjean, F. and G.S.E. Lagerloef, 2002: Diagnostic model and analysis of the surface currents in the tropical Pacific Ocean, J. Phys. Oceanogr., 32, 2938-2954. Colling, A., 2002: Ocean Circulation. 2nd ed. Butterworth-Heinemann, 286 pp. Lagerloef, G.S.E., G.T. Mitchum, R.B. Lukas, and P.P. Niiler, 1999: Tropical Pacific nearsurface currents estimated from altimetry, wind and drifter data. J. Geophys. Res., 104, 2331323326. Levitus, S., R. Burgett and T. Boyer, 1994: World Ocean Atlas Vol. 3: Salinity, NOAA Atlas NESDIS 3, NOAA, Washington, DC , 99pp, 1994a. Levitus, S. and T. Boyer, 1994: World Ocean Atlas Vol. 4: Temperature, NOAA Atlas NESDIS 4, NOAA, Washington, DC , 117pp, 1994b. Peterson, R.G. and L. Stramma, 1991: Upper-level circulation in the South Atlantic Ocean, Prog. Oceanogr., 26, 1-73. Pond, S., and G.L. Pickard, 1983: Introductory Dynamical Oceanography, 2nd ed., pp. 87-89, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford. Richardson, P.L. and T.K. McKee, 1984: Average Seasonal Variation of the Atlantic Equatorial Currents from Historical Ship Drifts, J. Phys. Oceanogr., 14, 1226-1238. Richardson, P.L. and D. Walsh, 1986: Mapping climatological seasonal variations of surface currents in the tropical Atlantic using ship drifts. J. Geophys. Res., 91, 10537-10550.

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