On the interaction between the Malvinas current and ocean mesoscale structures at 41ºS

ARTANA, C. I.; SARACENO, M.; PROVOST, C.

Mar del Plata

Conferencia; XII Argentine Congress on Meteorology; 2015

The Brazil Malvinas-Confluence is one of the most energetic areas of the world. A great amount of eddies and meanders are generated in this area. Eddies migrate southward and eastward and, in some occasions, southwestward. In the last case they can approach the Malvinas Current and interact with its flow. In this work we investigated the role that mesoscale activity plays in controlling the variability of the time series of the transport of the Malvinas Current observed at 41ºS (Spadone and Provost 2009). Extreme maxima and minima of the transport time series were detected with an objective criterion. Using satellite altimetry data we analyzed mean dynamic topography fields associated to each minimum and maximum detected. Results indicate that 70% of the minima in the transport time series are associated with the presence of mesoscale activity in the vicinity of the region where the Malvinas Current transport was measured. The analysis of the transport of the Malvinas Current using only satellite altimetry data at other latitudes suggests that a remote forcing process might be related to the largest maxima observed. In-situ measurements of the transport of the Malvinas Current at other latitudes are necessary to verify this result.