Amazon Plume Salinity Response to Ocean Teleconnections

• Published in: Frontiers in Marine Science
• Main Authors: Tyaquiçã, Pedro, Veleda, Dóris, Lefèvre, Nathalie, Araujo, Moacyr, Noriega, Carlos, Caniaux, Guy, Servain, Jacques, Silva, Thiago
• Other Authors: Universidade Federal de Pernambuco Recife (UFPE), Austral, Boréal et Carbone (ABC), Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre national de recherches météorologiques (CNRM), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Processus de la variabilité climatique tropicale et impacts (PARVATI), Brazilian Research Network on Global Climate Change, FINEP/Rede CLIMA Grant Number 01.13.0353-00, ProdPluma—Modelo Regional de Produtividade Primária da Pluma do Amazonas (CNPq grant 460687/2014-0), Brazilian National Institute of Science and Technology for Tropical Marine Environments–INCT AmbTropic (CNPq/FABESB grants 565054/2010-4 and 8936/2011), European Project: 264879,EC:FP7:ENV,FP7-ENV-2010,CARBOCHANGE(2011)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2017
• Subjects: El Niño; sea surface temperature; rainfall; sea surface salinity; Amazon River plume; [PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-GEO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Geophysics [physics.geo-ph]; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01686382; https://hal.science/hal-01686382/document; https://hal.science/hal-01686382/file/fmars-04-00250.pdf; https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2017.00250

International audience Pacific and Atlantic sea surface temperature (SST) variability strongly influences rainfall changes in the Amazon River basin, which impacts on the river discharge and consequently the sea surface salinity (SSS) in the Amazon plume. An Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis was performed using 46 years of SST, rainfall, and SSS datasets, in order to establish the relationship between these variables. The first three modes of SST/rainfall explained 87.83% of the total covariance. Pacific and Atlantic SSTs led Amazon basin rainfall events by 4 months. The resultant SSS in the western tropical North Atlantic (WTNA) lagged behind basin rainfall by 3 months, with 75.04% of the total covariance corresponding to the first four EOF modes. The first EOF mode indicated a strong SSS pattern along the coast that was connected to negative rainfall anomalies covering the Amazon basin, linked to El Niño events. A second pattern also presented positive SSS anomalies, when the rainfall was predominantly over the northwestern part of the Amazon basin, with low rainfall around the Amazon River mouth. The pattern with negative SSS anomalies in the WTNA was associated with the fourth mode, when positive rainfall anomalies were concentrated in the northwest part of South America. The spatial rainfall structure of this fourth mode was associated with the spatial rainfall distribution found in the third EOF mode of SST vs. rainfall, which was a response to La Niña Modoki events. A statistical analysis for the 46 year period and monthly anomaly composites for 2008 and 2009 indicated that La Niña Modoki events can be used for the prediction of low SSS patterns in the WNTA.