The coastal upwelling and down welling processes off Cape Frio, Brazil (23S)

Abstract

Although the coastal upwelling nearby Cape Frio (23S) has been reasonably well studied, the coastal downwelling remains virtually unexplored in the scientific literature. The aim of this work is to investigate these processes and their interaction with the Brazil Current. The methodology is based in numerical modeling and data analysis. The data set is composed of wind data from scatterometers, wind data from atmospheric sensors installed on a buoy moored near the coast, and quasi-synoptic hydrographic data from the 2001 summer/winter oceanographic cruises of the dynamics of the shelf ecosystem of the western South Atlantic (DEPROAS) project. The numerical model employed is a sectional version of the Princeton Ocean Model. We will investigate the role of the baroclinic adjustment of the Brazil Current, as well as of the Cape Frio unstable cyclonic meander, in the upwelling and downwelling processes. As a result of this work, we expect to better quantify the influence of the oceanic processes on the coastal system nearby Cape Frio.(AU)