Spatial variability of currents associated with different cold fronts along the southern Texas coast

Romero-Arteaga, Angélica; Alegría-Arzaburu, Amaia Ruíz de

doi:10.1007/s10236-022-01505-z

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…The inner-shelf circulation is primarily wind-driven in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico, and the alongshelf wind-stress component defines the main current direction [23,32,33]. The winds intensified along the coast as Harvey approached the Port Aransas coastline.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Summer winds from the southwest induce northward flows, while winds from the northeast during non-summer months generate southward flows along the inner shelf [34]. Figure 9 compares the wind and current characteristics of Hurricane Harvey with those of an individual intense cold front (CF) on the 2nd of March 2017 (see CFI in [23] for further details). The winds presented preferential directions towards the southeast and southwest during Harvey and the cold front, respectively (Figure 9b,c,g,h).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent findings indicate that cold fronts induce strong northerly winds that generate downcoast alongshore flows during the winter, while moderate southeasterly winds generate dominant upcoast flows from spring to fall [20]. Generally, surface downcoast flows dominate in the Port Aransas area (northern study site) during the passage of cold fronts, but upcoast currents prevail along the South Padre area (southern study site), and a convergence zone can be identified between the two sites around Mustang Island [23,25]. Alongshelf wind stresses and currents are highly correlated in the inner shelf [22], but the current directions also depend on the coastline's orientation relative to the dominant wind forcing.…”

Section: Field Site and Experimental Setupmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…In this region, the cross-shelf mass exchange between the outer and inner continental shelf is limited due to the presence of large bathymetric gradients that act as a boundary [21]. The wind is the dominant forcing mechanism for the inner-shelf circulation [22,23], and seaward advected river plumes induce baroclinically driven flows that can enhance cross-shelf transport in the summer [21].…”

Section: Field Site and Experimental Setupmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Spatial Variability of Surface Waves and Nearshore Currents Induced by Hurricane Harvey along the Southern Texas Coast

Romero-Arteaga

Alegría-Arzaburu

Esquivel–Trava

2022

JMSE

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Extreme weather events such as hurricanes are expected to become more severe with the human-induced increase in average global temperatures, exacerbating the risk of major damage. Efforts to predict these events typically require detailed hydrodynamic data that are difficult to collect in the field. Here, nearshore data collected with three ADCP moorings were used to describe the hydrodynamics induced by Hurricane Harvey along the southern Texas coast. Wave spectra and nearshore current variations were analyzed along the hurricane’s trajectory and compared to other offshore locations. The results indicate that winds intensified along the coast as Harvey approached the Port Aransas coastline. Southerly wind stresses of ~ −0.9 Nm−2 generated ~2 ms−1 depth-averaged flows towards the southwest close to landfall in the north, while flows of ~1 ms−1 and <1 ms−1 were measured in the center and the south of the study site, respectively. The hydrodynamics induced by the hurricane were compared to those induced by an intense synoptic-scale cold front (CF). Both events generated southward-directed alongshore wind stresses of similar magnitudes ( ~ − 0.4 Nm−2) that caused similar depth-averaged flows (0.5 to 0.7 ms−1) and wave energy conditions (Hs of ~ 4 m) in the south. Harvey caused extremely energetic conditions close to landfall in the north compared to the CF; depth-averaged flows and Hs of 2 ms−1 and 10 m were induced by Harvey, as opposed to 0.6 ms−1 and 4 m by the CF, respectively. While intense currents (>1 ms−1) and waves (Hs > 4 m) lasted for less than a day during Harvey, these persisted a few days longer during the CF. This study highlights the relevant role of synoptic-scale cold fronts in modulating the nearshore hydrodynamics, which occur more frequently than tropical cyclones in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Field Site and Experimental Setupmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Field Site and Experimental Setupmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Spatial Variability of Surface Waves and Nearshore Currents Induced by Hurricane Harvey along the Southern Texas Coast

Romero-Arteaga

Alegría-Arzaburu

Esquivel–Trava

2022

JMSE

Self Cite

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“…Samples collected during these cruises and their analysis in CIGoM laboratories enabled us to establish the spatial and temporal patterns of the physical and geochemical variables (Damien et al, 2018;Portela et al, 2018;Medina-Goḿez et al, 2020;Ochoa et al, 2021;Cervantes-Díaz et al, 2022;Hernández-Sánchez et al, 2022;Lee-Sańchez et al, 2022;Valencia-Gasti et al, 2022;Velásquez-Aristizábal et al, 2022;Romero-Arteaga et al, 2022a;Romero-Arteaga et al, 2022b) related to the carbon cycle (as well as hydrocarbons (García-Bautista et al, 2022) metals and pollutants concentrations in the water column (Arenas-Islas et al, 2019;Hernańdez-Candelario et al, 2019;Árcega-Cabrera et al, 2021;Dotor-Almazań et al, 2021a;Dótor-Almazán et al, 2021b;Dotor-Almazań et al, 2021b;Árcega-Cabrera F. et al, 2022;Dotor-Almazań et al, 2022a;Do ́tor-Almaza ́n et al, 2022b), sediments, as well as in tissues of selected organisms.…”

Section: Baseline Studies and Environmental Variabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Ocean monitoring, observation network and modelling of the Gulf of Mexico by CIGOM

et al. 2023

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The tragic accident of the Macondo platform operated by British Petroleum (BP) unleashed in 2010 one of the largest oil spills in history, lasting over three months, spilling nearly 500 million liters of oil in one of the most biodiverse ocean regions. This accident revealed the technological deficiencies for the control of a spill in deep waters of the hydrocarbon industry. Simultaneously it showed important gaps in knowledge to predict the propagation and fate of the large volumes of hydrocarbons at depth and on the surface ocean and, more importantly, on their impact on the great ecosystem of the Gulf of Mexico. The necessity to understand and predict the transport, fate and ecosystem-level impacts of large oil spills in the southern Gulf of Mexico, a key region for oil exploration and extraction, led policymakers, scientists, and industry representatives from PEMEX (the Mexican oil company) to jointly launch an ocean observation project (2015-22) aimed to provide a multi-layered environmental baseline, develop a modern monitoring and computational modeling capacity and promote scientific understanding of the marine environment throughout the Mexican Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The initiative, led by the Research Consortium for the Gulf of Mexico (CIGoM), brought together more than 300 multidisciplinary researchers from more than a two dozen institutions in Mexico and abroad, including the Centre for Scientific Research and Higher Education of Ensenada (CICESE) as the leading institution, the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), the Centre for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute (CINVESTAV) in Mérida, the Autonomous University of Baja California (UABC), and the Centre for Engineering and Industrial Development (CIDESI). Financial support was provided by the National Council for Science and Technology and the Ministry of Energy Hydrocarbon Fund.

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Global Variability in Estuaries and Coastal Settings

Perillo Miguel Eduardo,

Piccolo

2024

Treatise on Estuarine and Coastal Science (Second Edition)

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Spatial variability of currents associated with different cold fronts along the southern Texas coast

Cited by 6 publications

References 29 publications

Spatial Variability of Surface Waves and Nearshore Currents Induced by Hurricane Harvey along the Southern Texas Coast

Spatial Variability of Surface Waves and Nearshore Currents Induced by Hurricane Harvey along the Southern Texas Coast

Ocean monitoring, observation network and modelling of the Gulf of Mexico by CIGOM

Global Variability in Estuaries and Coastal Settings

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