Patos Lagoon outflow within the Río de la Plata plume using an airborne salinity mapper: Observing an embedded plume |
| |
| Authors: | Derek Burrage Joel Wesson Carlos Martinez Tabare Pérez Osmar Möller Jr Alberto Piola |
| |
| Institution: | 1. Ocean Sciences Branch, Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), Stennis Space Center, MS 39529, USA;2. Programa de Ciencias del Mar y de la Atmosfera (PCMYA), Seccion Oceanologia, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la Republica, Uruguay;3. Division de Investigacion y Desarrollo, CITMPSA, Montevideo, Uruguay;4. Fundação Universidade Federal do Rio Grande(FURG), Campus Carreiros, 96201-900 Rio Grande, RS, Brazil;5. Departamento Oceanografia, Servicio de Hidrografia Naval, Ciudad Autonoma de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| |
| Abstract: | Major river systems discharging into continental shelf waters frequently form buoyant coastal currents that propagate along the continental shelf in the direction of coastal trapped wave propagation (with the coast on the right/left, in the northern/southern hemisphere). The combined flow of the Uruguay and Paraná Rivers, which discharges freshwater into the Río de la Plata estuary (Lat. ∼36°S), often gives rise to a buoyant coastal current (the ‘Plata plume’) that extends northward along the continental shelf off Uruguay and Southern Brazil. Depending upon the prevailing rainfall, wind and tidal conditions, the Patos/Mirim Lagoon complex (Lat. ∼32°S) may also produce a freshwater outflow plume that expands across the inner continental shelf. Under these circumstances the Patos outflow plume can be embedded in temperature, salinity and current fields that are strongly influenced by the larger Plata plume. The purpose of this paper is to present observations of such an embedded plume structure and to determine the dynamical characteristics of the ambient and embedded plumes. |
| |
| Keywords: | Sea water Salinity Surface temperature Ocean circulation River plumes Oceanic fronts Microwave remote sensing |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
|
