| Summary: | VI Expanding Ocean Frontiers conference (EOF 2021), Barcelona (Spain), 5th - 7th July 2021 This study provides new insights into the wave regime and wave-current coupling in a partially sheltered upwelling-driven coastal system, the Ría de Vigo (NW Iberia), and its adjacent continental shelf using data from ADCP, wave-gauge, met-ocean buoy and models results. The wave propagation from the shelf to the ria is considered during both downwelling (autumn-winter) and upwelling (spring-summer) seasons from June 2013 to August 2014. Swell on the NW Iberian shelf comes mainly from NW directions, while wind sea comes from the NW under upwelling conditions, and from the SW under downwelling conditions. As the bay is protected from the NW and exposed to the SW, swell is almost always attenuated and wave height inside the ria depends mostly on shelf wind sea variability. During the upwelling season, both swell and wind sea barely enter the ria and wave heights inside the ria are small (0.21 m). During the downwelling season, shelf wind sea directly enters the ria, contributing more to the total wave height, which achieves its maximum values (0.46 m). There is a wave-current coupling (WCC) between waves and wind-driven currents inside the ria that is stronger in the downwelling season. This strong WCC entails an increase in energy near the sea bed that reinforces benthic re- mineralization, produces changes in the physiology of benthic organisms and has potential effects on other essential ecosystem services and human activities. The winter inter-annual variability (2009-2016) of wave height and WCC in the ria is analyzed through its relationship with the main climatic modes of the NW Iberian area. The winter wave height and WCC in the ria are controlled by the combination of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the West Europe Pressure Anomaly (WEPA) indices. The highest waves, strongest residual currents, and consequently increased effects of WCC occur during the coincidence of negative NAO and positive WEPA phases ...
|
|---|