Evolution of oceanographic conditions off Baja California: 1997–1999

Durazo, Reginaldo; Baumgartner, Tim R.

doi:10.1016/s0079-6611(02)00041-1

Cited by 161 publications

(193 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…1). Special attention is given to the anomalous poleward surface jet found during the 1997-98 El Niño, which was previously reported offshore and to the north and south of the region studied (Durazo & Baumgartner, 2002;. We also show that …”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 71%

“…Spiciness is a state variable most sensitive to isopycnal thermohaline variations and least correlated to the density field (Flament, 2002), and it has been widely used to study the characteristics and time evolution of the water masses associated with the California Current System (e.g. Chereskin & Niiler, 1994;Tisch et al, 1992;Durazo & Baumgartner, 2002;Lynn et al, 2003). Fresh and cold waters have low π, while salty and warm waters have high values.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…3 (e.g. Lynn & Simpson, 1987;Tomczak & Godfrey, 1994;Durazo & Baumgartner, 2002 (2002)) is found on the eastern Suptropical Gyre, to the west of the California Current. The waters in the region of our study result from mixing of California Current SAW with waters found to the west (NPCW) and NEPW advected by the California Undercurrent (e.g.…”

Section: Thermohaline Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The anomalous conditions observed off Southern California and Baja California in 1997 and 1998 seem to be the result of advection of salty and warm waters of southern origin, most likely to the south of Punta Eugenia (27.7 • N, ). Durazo & Baumgartner (2002) proposed these were subtropical waters from the eastern Pacific that entered the region off Punta Eugenia. The period of the 2002-03 El Niño was particularly interesting given that its effects on the thermohaline conditions near the surface were overshadowed by an anomalous intrusion of fresh and cold Subarctic Water.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Hydrographic conditions near the coast of northwestern Baja California: 1997–2004

Pérez-Brunius

López

Pineda

2006

Continental Shelf Research

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The effects of the 1997-98 and 2002-04 El Niño on the upper waters in the continental shelf and slope regions off northwestern Baja California are explored with data from eight cruises taken in late spring from 1998 to 2004 and the summers of 1997 and 1998. Geostrophic velocities were calculated referenced to a specific volume anomaly surface separating the southward flowing California Current waters from the waters advected to the north by the California Undercurrent. The resulting fields show equatorward flow near the surface except in the summer of 1997, when a poleward jet was found in the upper 40 dbars. This shallow jet advected anomalously warm and salty waters characteristic of the 1997-98 El Niño, with its core found within 20-30 kms from the coast. By spring of 1998, the waters brought into the region by the jet had mixed across the pycnoline with the salty California Undercurrent waters below, resulting in high salinity levels on the density surfaces corresponding to the otherwise fresh California Current waters (25-26σ t ).

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 71%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Thermohaline Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Hydrographic conditions near the coast of northwestern Baja California: 1997–2004

Pérez-Brunius

López

Pineda

2006

Continental Shelf Research

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“…The anomalies observed just outside and inside the GC during an El Niño (Baumgartner and Christensen, 1985;Robles and Marinone, 1987;Ripa and Marinone, 1989;Marinone, 1989;Torres Orozco, 1993;Soto et al, 1999;Filonov and Tereshchenko, 2000;Castro et al, 2000;Durazo and Baumgartner, 2002;Strub and James, 2002b,c;Lavín et al, 2003) are explained by the properties of the internal CTWs: a 10-30 cm surface elevation, a 50-100 m deepening of the surface mixed layer and the thermocline (and a consequent increase in the heat content of the upper 100-200 m). The surface temperature elevation (up to 3 • C) and surface salinity depression (0.1) are associated to the advective properties of a surface-elevation CTW in the presence of horizontal SST and salinity gradients.…”

Section: Interannual Variabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

An Overview of the Physical Oceanography of the Gulf of California

Lavín¹,

Marinone²

2003

Nonlinear Processes in Geophysical Fluid Dynamics

167

149

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Abstract. The Gulf of California (GC) presents several oceanographic features that make it unique among semienclosed seas of similar latitude and dimensions, the most important being strong tidal mixing, some of it close to deep stratification. Three-dimensional numerical model results suggest that tidal mixing may be more important than the thermohaline circulation in causing the long-term residual circulation, which consists of outflow in the upper 200 m and inflow below, plus a seasonally-reversing surface layer. The GC is an evaporative basin, but in the mean it gains heat through the surface. Lacking a sill at the point of connection with the Pacific Ocean (PO), the GC is constantly shaken by a wide spectrum of signals coming from the PO, including tides, subinertial trapped waves of various frequencies and El Niño. The seasonal dynamics and thermodynamics of the GC are dominated by the PO, not by local wind or buoyancy flux. Local processes are important at shorter time scales and in altering the thermohaline characteristics of the upper-layer waters. Tidal currents generate internal tides, packets of solitons, and sea surface temperature fronts from which jets may form. Coastal upwelling also seems to generate jets that separate from capes, especially on the mainland coast. The mesoscale off-shore circulation in the GC consists of a series of basin-wide geostrophic gyres that reach below 1000 m; their effect on the mean and seasonal circulation and thermodynamics of the GC remains to be studied. During summer, the currents in the mainland continental shelf are due to coastal trapped waves, while during winter they are wind-driven. The most important interannual anomalies in the GC are due to El Niño.

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Seasonality of the transitional region of the California Current System off Baja California

Durazo¹

2015

JGR Oceans

109

122

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Hydrographic data collected over the period 1997-2013 are analyzed to investigate the seasonality of hydrographic features and associated geostrophic flows off the Baja California peninsula. The upper ocean in the region was found to be homogeneous in winter and spring but subdivided into two regions in the summer and autumn. In the first case, the system typically shows relatively low-temperature and salinity waters, which give it a subarctic character. In the second, only the region north of Punta Eugenia (28 N) maintains subarctic characteristics, while the southern region receives an inflow of tropical and subtropical waters that results from the weakening of northwesterly winds, which allows the poleward advection of surface waters. Also during this period, a positive wind stress curl promotes the zonal advection of North Pacific's eastern edge waters into the coast and to the north as a surface coastal flow. Average seasonal patterns of geostrophic flow at 200 dbar revealed that the differentiation into provinces is also evident at that depth, with two clearly defined cyclonic structures in summer and autumn, both separated at the latitude of Punta Eugenia. The analyses conducted also showed a clear continuity of the California undercurrent along the shelf break, with more diffuse currents in the winter. Poleward flows were observed throughout the water column, especially in summer and autumn, although the origin of the surface flow does not necessarily involve a surfacing of the California Undercurrent.

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Evolution of oceanographic conditions off Baja California: 1997–1999

Cited by 161 publications

References 29 publications

Hydrographic conditions near the coast of northwestern Baja California: 1997–2004

Hydrographic conditions near the coast of northwestern Baja California: 1997–2004

An Overview of the Physical Oceanography of the Gulf of California

Seasonality of the transitional region of the California Current System off Baja California

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