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ENSO and eddies on the southwest coast of Mexico
Author(s) -
Zamudio Luis,
Leonardi Alan P.,
Meyers Steven D.,
O'Brien James J.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2000gl011814
Subject(s) - downwelling , geology , eddy , oceanography , climatology , anticyclone , kelvin wave , jet (fluid) , ocean current , upwelling , turbulence , geography , meteorology , physics , thermodynamics
TOPEX/POSEIDON and ERS‐2 (T/ERS) sea surface height altimeter observations and the Naval Research Laboratory Layered Ocean Model (NLOM) are used to study the circulation along the southwest coast of Mexico. The results of this research indicate that strong El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) warm phase Kelvin waves (KW) destabilize the upper ocean circulation. The effect of ENSO appears as three distinct stages. First, a coastal jet characterized by strong vertical shear flow develops. Second, the shear flow strengthens, increasing its horizontal dimension and the amplitude of its oscillations. Finally, the jet becomes unstable and breaks into anticyclonic eddies, which separate from the coast and drift southwestward. The genesis and strengthening of the jet is due to the simultaneous occurrence of the poleward‐flowing currents along the southwest coast of Mexico and the poleward circulation associated with ENSO downwelling KW.