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On the Change in the Sea Surface Temperature in the Benguela Upwelling Region: Part II. Long-Term Tendencies

  • USE OF SPACE INFORMATION ABOUT THE EARTH STUDYING SEAS AND OCEANS FROM SPACE
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Abstract

The issue of long-term tendencies in the sea surface temperature (SST) in the Benguela upwelling region and their causes is examined using the daily satellite data of the SST for 1985–2017 and the near-surface wind for 1988–2017. It is shown that in the Benguela upwelling region there has been a significant intensification of offshore winds in the last 20 years. This is accompanied by a decrease in the thermal upwelling index (taking into account the sign of the index or an increase in its absolute values) in the southern part of the Benguela upwelling, but it practically does not influence this indicator in its northern part. The probable cause for this difference is the change in the wind-field structure, which results in opposite trends in the magnitude of the wind stress curl in different parts of the Benguela upwelling. In the southern part of the Benguela upwelling, both the coastal upwelling and the vertical velocities due to the vorticity of the near-water wind intensify, while in its northern part the corresponding trends have opposite signs. This leads to a partial compensation of these two effects in the northern part of the Benguela upwelling. The cause for the change in the wind-field structure is the displacement of the center of the Subtropical High to the southeast and the concomitant reversal of the near-surface wind vectors in the coastal zone.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Natural and Technical Systems, Sevastopol, Russia

    A. B. Polonsky & A. N. Serebrennikov

  2. Moscow State University, Sevastopol Branch, Sevastopol, Russia

    A. B. Polonsky

  3. Sevastopol State University, Sevastopol, Russia

    A. B. Polonsky

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  1. A. B. Polonsky
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  2. A. N. Serebrennikov
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Correspondence to A. B. Polonsky.

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Translated by L. Mukhortova

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Polonsky, A.B., Serebrennikov, A.N. On the Change in the Sea Surface Temperature in the Benguela Upwelling Region: Part II. Long-Term Tendencies. Izv. Atmos. Ocean. Phys. 56, 970–978 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001433820090200

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