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Seasonal and diurnal variations of vorticity and divergence in the Eastern Boundary Current Systems
  • Antonio Quintana,
  • Torres Hector,
  • Jose Gomez-Valdes
Antonio Quintana
Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Torres Hector
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
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Jose Gomez-Valdes
CICESE
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Abstract

Eastern Boundary Currents Systems are typically studied as a whole due to their dynamical similarities, mainly because Ekman pumping is predominant at these currents, and they typically have low kinetic energy. In this study, we used the output of a high-resolution global simulation to make a dynamical comparison among the California, Canary, Peru, and Benguela currents during the winter and summer months, focusing on submesoscale motions (Ro ~ 1) in both the frequency-wavenumber and space-time domains. After we confirmed the presence of submesoscale activity and isolated it from mesoscale motions, we found that their divergence and vorticity fields follow similar seasonal patterns in the near-diurnal frequency range, despite regional differences. The results showed that heat fluxes at the ocean surface, along with weak to moderate wind stresses, significantly impact the modulation of submesoscale vorticity and divergence fields at diurnal frequencies.