Current observations offshore Bahía Blanca Estuary, Argentina

PICCOLO, M.C.; PERILLO, G.M.E.

Birmingham, Inglaterra

Congreso; XXII General Assembly International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Ocean; 1999

International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Ocean

Continuous current measurements at two stations offshore Bahía Blanca Estuary (Argentina) in late spring, 1993 were employed to analyse the magnitude and relative importance of tidal and wind driven motion in the area. Hourly wind and tides were obtained from an oceanographic tower located at the mouth of the estuary and from three coastal navigation lights that cover all the coast of the study region. Subtracting the tidal components from the original records revealed non-tidal flow. Instantaneous motion is characterised by semidiurnal tidal currents of 5-56 cm s-1amplitudes. Mean velocities at both stations (located at both sides of the estuarine mouth) were 22.6 and 22.1 cm s-1, respectively. Winds were strong practically during all the measurement period being always higher than 18-m s-1 from the SE. Tidal and higher frequencies motions were smaller than the instantaneous and well correlated with the prevailing winds.