A satellite study of the surface circulation in the Southeastern Pacific

STRUB, T.; MATANO, R. P.; PALMA, E. D.

Lima, Peru

Conferencia; International Conference on the Humboldt Current System; 2006

IRD (France), IMARPE (Peru)

Aspects of the surface circulation of the SE Pacific are described using two primary types of satellite data: sea surface temperature (SST) fields from the Pathfinder (1985-2003) and Reynolds (1982-2005) data sets; and sea surface height (SSH) fields from the JPL along track SLA and the gridded AVISO SSH and velocity data sets (1993-2005). Results from the satelite analysis will be compared with results from a numerical simulation of the circulation (see abstract by Matano et al). If time allows, comparisons to the NE Pacific will also be presented. Seasonal cycles and interannual anomalies will be presented to describe El Niño, La Niña and "neutral" periods. The typical fields include evolving SST and SSH fileds, differences between SST at the coast and offshore (an upwelling index); variances of SSH, geostrophic velocity and SST; wavenumber spectra of SSH and SST; etc. At some locations, comparisons to detailed climatologies are possible, for instance off northern Chile, where 30 years of hydrographic data have been analyzed.