Wave climate variability in a partially sheltered and upwelling-driven bay

• Main Authors: Villacieros-Robineau, Nicolás, Gilcoto, Miguel, Pardo, Paula C., Barton, Eric D.
• Other Authors: Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España), Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España)
• Format: Still Image
• Language: English
• Published: 2022
• Subjects: Wave regime; Swell and wind sea; Wave-current coupling; NW Iberia coastal upwelling; Ecosystem services; North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10261/278138; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100004837; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003329

Poster.-- Conferencia sobre los Sistemas de Afloramiento de Borde Oriental (EBUS): Pasado, Presente y Futuro & Segunda Conferencia Internacional sobre el Sistema de Corrientes de Humboldt, 19-23 de Septiembre de 2022, Lima, Perú The wave regime in the NW Iberia coastal upwelling system is closely related to the seasonal wind regime (Villacieros-Robineau et al., 2019 and 2021). Under upwelling conditions (prevailing northerly winds, spring-summer), swell and wind sea come mainly from NW directions. When southerly winds prevail (downwelling conditions, autumn-winter), swell comes from WNW, and wind sea comes from SW directions. The coastal bays or rias of this region, mainly protected from the NW and exposed to the SW, are more vulnerable to the change in the shelf wave direction than the open coast. The wave regime on the shelf and in one of these bays, the Ría de Vigo, was studied between June 2013 and August 2014, using data from an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP), a wave-gauge, a met-ocean buoy, and model results. Our results indicate that swell is almost always attenuated when entering the bay, 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 cumulative action of wave and wind-driven currents (wave-current coupling, WCC) that is strongest during the downwelling season. The WCC entails an increase in the seabed energy, which could reinforce bottom remineralization, produce changes in the ecophysiology of benthic organisms, and have potential effects on other essential ecosystem services and human activities. The inter-annual variability (2009–2016) of winter wave height and WCC in the ria is associated with the combined role played by the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and ...