Publication Date:
2017-10-11
Description:
The Gulf of Mexico is a very productive basin presenting an important seasonality in surface chlorophyll concentrations. This variability is, in first order, driven by meteorological conditions that impact the stratification of the water column. Rivers discharges and the basin circulation , dominated by the energetic Loop Current and the Loop Current Eddies, are also known to play a crucial role in the distribution and variability of biogeochemical properties Recent studies showed the important submesoscale activity in the upper ocean of the Gulf that impact both horizontal and vertical transports and may be an important feature in the characterization of the biogeochemical processes. Understand the physical-biogeochemical coupling processes and estimate the biogeochemical parameters budgets in the Gulf of Mexico remain important tasks to be done.
In the framework of SENER group, the biogeochemical model PISCES was coupled to a 1/12 degrees resolution simulation of the Gulf of Mexico circulation. The first objective was to review the capabilities of the coupled model to reproduce the main biogeochemical patterns and variability in the basin. To do so, comparisons were performed with the available data set and sensitivity test to key processes were carried on.
Then, the coupled model, associated to a vortex tracking algorithm, were used to shed light on the physical-biogeochemical coupling processes associated with the Loop Current Eddies and the integral impact of these typical structures in the advection of biogeochemical parameters.
Type:
Conference or Workshop Item
,
NonPeerReviewed
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