A study of cross-shore maximum upwelling intensity along the Northwest Africa coast

Abstract

Satellite images of sea surface temperature (SST) show that the location of cross-shore SST minimum (LCSM) stretches along the isobaths in the Northwest Africa Upwelling System. To understand and interpret these observations better, we set up a two-dimensional analytical model that takes into account the surface and bottom Ekman transport and the alongshore geostrophic current, as well as bottom friction and variations in bottom topography. The structure of vertical velocity with a realistic topography clearly illustrates the variations of SST drop in a sample cross-shore section. Some idealized theoretical model experiments are carried out to examine the effects of eddy viscosity, Coriolis force, and cross-shore wind on the location of the cross-shore maximum upwelling intensity. The results show that the cross-shore wind largely impacts on the location where the coldest water outcrops to the surface through an adjustment of the cross-shore pressure gradient. This is also verified by the remotely sensed data, which indicate that the maximum correlation coefficient between cross-shore wind stress and the depth of LCSM is −0.65 with a lag of approximately 1 day.