Efectos orográficos sobre la circulación en la capa superficial del oceáno en el Noroeste de África.

Abstract

This paper presents the analysis of the effects of African coastline and bathymetric shelf irregularities, as well as the presence of the Canary Islands, on the Canary Current flow in the region between 24° N-30° N latitude and 12° O-19° O longitude. The orographic effects on filaments and eddies generation in the Northwest African coastal transition zone, the mesoscale features downstream the islands, as well as the interaction between both, are examined by making use of a scale physical model and satellite image sequences of sea surface temperature and chlorophyll-like pigment concentrations. In general, results from the model show an excellent agreement with those from satellite scenes. Results reveal that observed mesoscalar variability in image sequences 181 G. Rodríguez y otros Efectos orográficos sobre la circulación en la capa superficial... can be explained to a great extent by the Canary Current perturbations due to African coastline irregularities, variations in the continental shelf bathymetry, up to 400 m depth, and the presence of the islands. 1.