Ekman transport analysis along the Galician Coast (NW Spain) using QuikSCAT Satellite data. Comparison with modeled data provided by METEOGALICIA
- Paper number
IAC-06-B1.P.1.03
- Author
Mrs. Elisabet Novoa, Universidad de Vigo, Spain
- Coauthor
Dr. Ines Alvarez, Universidad de Vigo, Spain
- Coauthor
Dr. Maite deCastro, Universidad de Vigo, Spain
- Coauthor
Dr. Moncho Gomez-Gesteira, Universidad de Vigo, Spain
- Year
2006
- Abstract
Ekman transport has been widely treated in the literature since Ekman seminar paper. Although the Ekman approach is simple, elegant, and clearly supported by laminar laboratory experiments, the Ekman model is, however, rather dissimilar to the actual turbulent flow near the ocean or lake surface. Ekman transport remains still valid to provide a macroscopical description of water transport near surface. Ekman transport can result in: Driving surface waters apart (divergente) creating zones of upwelling; forcing them together (convergente) creating zones of downwelling; driving surface waters away from coasts (upwelling); and pilling them up onto coasts (downwelling). Upwelling events have been largely studied along eastern boundary coastal systems all over the world. This phenomenon is commonly attributed to the actions of the wind along a coast, which generates an Ekman drift directed either onshore or offshore, to which the coast stands as an obstacle. QuikSCAT satellite wind data are provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a Level 3 Scientific product. The spatial resolution is approximately 0.25º x 0.25º. The operative model used by METEOGALICIA (http://www.meteogalicia.es/) is the Advanced Regional Prediction System (ARPS) of the University of Oklahoma. The origin of the finest numerical grid centered on Galicia was placed at 349º 23.53’ E and 41º 2.12’. The model runs in a configuration of 40 x 40 grid points. Ekman transport data were considered at nine control points located along the Galician coast which cover, in a macroscopical way, the mainly variations all over the coast at an approximate distance of 75 km from the nearest shore line. The Ekman transport provided by the satellite QuikSCAT from November 2001 to October 2004 is compared with METEOGALICIA data. Both databases show a high correlation although QuikSCAT data are slightly higher in magnitude (about 15
- Abstract document