Dynamics and oceanic response of the Madeira tip‐jets

Alves, José; Caldeira, Rui; Miranda, Pedro

doi:10.1002/qj.3825

Cited by 13 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…Concerning wind, comparison of model results with in situ measurements demonstrates that the model represents the main spatial and temporal variability of the wind speed (Figure 5, right panels). Correlation coefficients (mostly ranged between 0.7 and 0.9; Table 2) are similar or higher than those reported in previous studies (Pullen et al, 2017b;Alves et al, 2020;Belo-Pereira and Santos, 2020). However, RMSE are higher than those reported by Alves et al (2020).…”

Section: Atmospheric Model Validationsupporting

confidence: 80%

“…Given its location, at the eastern boundary of the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre, the climate is mainly controlled by the Azores subtropical highpressure system interacting with its topography. The high terrain acts as a perpendicular barrier to the prevailing northeastern trade winds (Caldeira et al, 2002;Prada et al, 2009;Gorricha et al, 2012;Alves et al, 2020;Belo-Pereira and Santos, 2020). As a result, many microclimates form within the island (Espinosa et al, 2021).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies in this region focused on atmospheric and oceanic island processes, combining the use of mediumhigh resolution numerical models (Caldeira and Sangrà, 2012;Couvelard et al, 2012;Caldeira and Tomé, 2013;Nunalee and Basu, 2014;Pullen et al, 2017b;Alves et al, 2021;Miranda et al, 2021), with in situ and satellite data (Caldeira et al, 2001(Caldeira et al, , 2002(Caldeira et al, , 2014Grubišic et al, 2015;Alves et al, 2020;Azevedo et al, 2021). These studies revealed the complexity and variety of oceanic and atmospheric interactive processes which occur around the Data was estimated based on the drainage network computed from the Digital Terrain Model (described in section "MOHID-Land, the Hydrological Model") using QGIS version 3.14.1 (www.qgis.org).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These data were provided by the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA), with data available since 2007. The model simulations were quantitatively assessed based on statistical analysis (correlation coefficient-r, root-mean-square error-RMSE, and bias; Table 2) widely used to evaluate atmospheric model performance (e.g., Alves et al, 2020;Belo-Pereira and Santos, 2020). Additionally, precipitation data for 9 meteorological stations were obtained from the Portuguese water resources database (SNIRH) 1 to be used in the long-term analysis of SPM and Chla (shown in Figures 1A,B).…”

Section: Observational Datasetsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The exchange of variables between the models that comprise the COAWST modeling system occurred every 30 min, in which: (i) the atmospheric model WRF provided 10 m surface winds to ROMS and SWAN and atmospheric pressure, air relative humidity, 2 m atmospheric surface temperature, cloud fraction, precipitation and short-wave and long-wave net radiative fluxes to ROMS; (ii) the oceanic model ROMS provided SST to WRF and surface currents, free surface elevation and bathymetry to SWAN; and (iii) the wave model SWAN provided significant wave height and wavelength to WRF and ROMS, and wave direction, surface and bottom wave periods, percent of breaking waves, wave energy dissipation and bottom orbital velocity to ROMS (Warner et al, 2010). This numerical framework was recently applied to the Madeira Archipelago (Pullen et al, 2017a;Alves et al, 2020;Azevedo et al, 2021), demonstrating that the coupling between the atmosphere and the ocean significantly improved model results. A recent study employing the COAWST demonstrated improved performance with respect to the replication of heavy precipitation events compared with stand-alone atmospheric models (Ricchi et al, 2021).…”

Section: Coawst Modeling Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impact of Flash Flood Events on the Coastal Waters Around Madeira Island: The “Land Mass Effect”

et al. 2022

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The Island Mass Effect has been primarily attributed to nutrient enhancement of waters surrounding oceanic islands due to physical processes, whereas the role of land runoff has seldom been considered. Land runoff can be particularly relevant in mountainous islands, highly susceptible to torrential rainfall that rapidly leads to flash floods. Madeira Island, located in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean, is historically known for its flash flood events, when steep streams transport high volumes of water and terrigenous material downstream. A 22-year analysis of satellite data revealed that a recent catastrophic flash flood (20 February 2010) was responsible for the most significant concentration of non-algal Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) and Chlorophyll-a at the coast. In this context, our study aims to understand the impact of the February 2010 flash flood events on coastal waters, by assessing the impact of spatial and temporal variability of wind, precipitation, and river discharges. Two specific flash floods events are investigated in detail (2 and 20 February 2010), which coincided with northeasterly and southwesterly winds, respectively. Given the lack of in situ data documenting these events, a coupled air-sea-land numerical framework was used, including hydrological modeling. The dynamics of the modeled river plumes induced by flash floods were strongly influenced by the wind regimes subsequently affecting coastal circulation, which may help to explain the differences between observed SPM and Chlorophyll-a distributions. Model simulations showed that during northeasterly winds, coastal confinement of the buoyant river plume persisted on the island’s north coast, preventing offshore transport of SPM. This mechanism may have contributed to favorable conditions for phytoplankton growth, as captured by satellite-derived Chlorophyll-a in the northeastern coastal waters. On the island’s south coast, strong ocean currents generated in the eastern island flank promoted strong vertical shear, contributing to vertical mixing. During southwesterly winds, coastal confinement of the plume with strong vertical density gradient was observed on the south side. The switch to eastward winds spread the south river plume offshore, forming a filament of high Chlorophyll-a extending 70 km offshore. Our framework demonstrates a novel methodology to investigate ocean productivity around remote islands with sparse or absent field observations.

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Section: Atmospheric Model Validationsupporting

confidence: 80%

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Observational Datasetsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Coawst Modeling Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impact of Flash Flood Events on the Coastal Waters Around Madeira Island: The “Land Mass Effect”

et al. 2022

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Speed‐up of the Madeira tip jets in the ERA5 climate highlights the decadal variability of the Atlantic subtropics

Miranda

Tomé

Fróis

et al. 2020

Quart J Royal Meteoro Soc

Self Cite

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During the summer months, the northeasterly trade winds impinging on Madeira Island lead to the establishment of a quasi-permanent wind pattern with two tip jets emerging near the western and eastern island tips. These jets respond to subtle changes of the upstream flow with an amplified signal, and a high-resolution simulation of the regional atmospheric flow is found to indicate an intensification, associated with a lowering of the atmospheric boundary layer and a slight realignment of the background flow. These results are validated by observations at Madeira Airport, where the proximity of the East Jet has led to less favourable wind conditions for aircraft operations in the last decade. It is suggested that these trends may be explained by large-scale changes in the structure of the Hadley Cell in the North Atlantic basin.

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Evolution of the subtropical surface wind in the north-east Atlantic under climate change

Alves,

Miranda,

Tomé

et al. 2024

Clim Dyn

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The climate of western Europe and northwest Africa strongly depends on the Azores anticyclone strength, location, and shape and, locally, also on the characteristics of the Iberia and Sahara summer thermal lows. EC-EARTH3 global simulations are here used to assess the predicted behaviour of these two relevant surface pressure systems and associated surface wind, by the end of XXI century (2071–2100), considering two climate change scenarios. Additionally, a high-resolution Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) simulation centred on Madeira Island is used to assess the influence of climate change on the surface wind at smaller scales, in a region well known for its perturbed flows. Results indicate a general mean wind speed decrease over a sector of the North-Atlantic, associated with a flatter Azores anticyclone. However, the predicted intensification of the Iberia and Sahara thermal lows imposes an increasing surface wind speed near west Iberia and northwest Africa, in summer. Southwest of Iberia, Madeira Island is also predicted to experience a summer intensification of its tip-jets. The projected changes in low-level wind speed and variability will impact on different sectors of activity, either directly as are the cases of aeronautical operation and offshore renewable energy, or indirectly through changes in the ocean circulation.

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Dynamics and oceanic response of the Madeira tip‐jets

Cited by 13 publications

References 50 publications

Impact of Flash Flood Events on the Coastal Waters Around Madeira Island: The “Land Mass Effect”

Impact of Flash Flood Events on the Coastal Waters Around Madeira Island: The “Land Mass Effect”

Speed‐up of the Madeira tip jets in the ERA5 climate highlights the decadal variability of the Atlantic subtropics

Evolution of the subtropical surface wind in the north-east Atlantic under climate change

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