Identification

Title

A curious local surface salinity maximum in the northwestern tropical Atlantic

Abstract

Sea surface salinity (SSS) measurements from the Aquarius/SAC-D satellite reveal the seasonal development of a local salinity maximum in the northwestern tropical Atlantic in boreal winter to early spring. This seasonal tropical SSS maximum, which is confirmed by comparison to in situ observations, is centered at 8°N, and is up to 0.5 psu saltier than the surrounding water despite its location in the latitude band of the highly precipitating Intertropical Convergence Zone. Its existence seems to be the result of the differing phases in the seasonal variations of Amazon discharge and ocean currents. In late boreal fall/winter, when the discharge is at its minimum, but the North Brazil Current (NBC) and its retroflection are still present, a mixture of high-salinity water of equatorial and South Atlantic origin is transported along the shelf break by the NBC retroflecting into the western part of the North Equatorial Countercurrent (NECC). This salt transport produces the salty signature of the western part of the NECC, which is seen as a localized salinity maximum on satellite imagery, in contrast to the fresh signature present in summer-early fall. The seasonal slowing/reversal of the NECC in boreal spring stops this eastward salt transport, thus leading to the disappearance of this northwestern tropical SSS maximum.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7cv4jp8

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2014-01-21T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact