scholarly journals A Climatology of Subtropical Cyclones in the South Atlantic

2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (21) ◽  
pp. 7328-7340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenni L. Evans ◽  
Aviva Braun

A 50-yr climatology (1957–2007) of subtropical cyclones (STs) in the South Atlantic is developed and analyzed. A subtropical cyclone is a hybrid structure (upper-level cold core and lower-level warm core) with associated surface gale-force winds. The tendency for warm season development of North Atlantic STs has resulted in these systems being confused as tropical cyclones (TCs). In fact, North Atlantic STs are a regular source of the incipient vortices leading to North Atlantic TC genesis. In 2004, Hurricane Catarina developed in the South Atlantic and made landfall in Brazil. A TC system had been previously unobserved in the South Atlantic, so the incidence of Catarina highlighted the lack of an ST climatology for the region to provide a context for the likelihood of future systems. Sixty-three South Atlantic STs are documented over the 50-yr period analyzed in this climatology. In contrast to the North Atlantic, South Atlantic STs occur relatively uniformly throughout the year; however, their preferred location of genesis and mechanisms for this genesis do exhibit some seasonal variability. Rossby wave breaking was identified as the mechanism for the ST vortex initiation for North Atlantic STs. A subset of South Atlantic STs forms via this mechanism, however, an additional mechanism for ST genesis is identified here: lee cyclogenesis downstream of the Andes in the Brazil Current region—an area favorable for convection. This formation mechanism is similar to development of type-2 east coast lows in the Tasman Sea off eastern Australia.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamed D. Ibrahim

North and South Atlantic lateral volume exchange is a key component of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) embedded in Earth’s climate. Northward AMOC heat transport within this exchange mitigates the large heat loss to the atmosphere in the northern North Atlantic. Because of inadequate climate data, observational basin-scale studies of net interbasin exchange between the North and South Atlantic have been limited. Here ten independent climate datasets, five satellite-derived and five analyses, are synthesized to show that North and South Atlantic climatological net lateral volume exchange is partitioned into two seasonal regimes. From late-May to late-November, net lateral volume flux is from the North to the South Atlantic; whereas from late-November to late-May, net lateral volume flux is from the South to the North Atlantic. This climatological characterization offers a framework for assessing seasonal variations in these basins and provides a constraint for climate models that simulate AMOC dynamics.


Zootaxa ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 3425 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARC ELÉAUME ◽  
JENS-MICHAEL BOHN ◽  
MICHEL ROUX ◽  
NADIA AMÉZIANE

During the last decades, R/V Meteor and R/V Polarstern deep-sea investigations in the south Atlantic and neighbouringSouthern Ocean collected new samples of stalked crinoids belonging to the families Bathycrinidae, Phrynocrinidae andHyocrinidae which are herein described. The species found are Bathycrinus australis A.H. Clark, 1907b (the most abun-dant), Dumetocrinus aff. antarcticus (Bather, 1908), Hyocrinus bethellianus Thomson, 1876, Feracrinus heinzelleri newspecies, and Porphyrocrinus cf. incrassatus (Gislén, 1933). As only stalk fragments of bathycrinids were frequently col-lected, a distinction between the two Atlantic species B. australis and B. aldrichianus is proposed using characters of co-lumnal articulations. A few specimens attributed to Porphyrocrinus cf. incrassatus, Hyocrinus bethellianus and Hyocrinussp. collected by the N/O Jean Charcot on the Walvis Ridge are also described, plus a new specimen of Porphyrocrinusincrassatus collected in the central mid-Atlantic. Biogeography and close affinities between species in the genera Bathy-crinus and Porphyrocrinus suggest an Antarctic origin of some stalked crinoids among the north Atlantic deep-sea fauna.The presence of B. australis in both the Angola and Cape basins suggests that the Walvis Ridge is not a bio-geographicalbarrier for this relatively eurybathic species, which can attach to hard substrates as well as anchor in sediment. The genusDumetocrinus seems to be an example of colonization of the west Antarctic platform from deeper environment where its ancestor lived.


2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (14) ◽  
pp. 5044-5060 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luise Fröhlich ◽  
Peter Knippertz ◽  
Andreas H. Fink ◽  
Esther Hohberger

Abstract The first global objective climatology of tropical plumes (TPs), obtained from a novel algorithm based on gridded 10.8-μm brightness temperatures Tb, is presented for 1983–2006. TPs are defined as continuous cloud bands (>2000 km) crossing 15°N or 15°S with Tb anomalies of less than −20 K and a lifetime of at least 3 h. A minimum length-to-width ratio of 3 filters out elongated features. Numbers of identified TPs are sensitive to the chosen thresholds but not their geographical distribution and seasonal cycle. TPs are an important indicator of tropical–extratropical interactions with impacts on radiation and moisture. TP occurrence during boreal winter is largely confined to oceanic regions with main maxima over the South Pacific and South Atlantic as well as the eastern North Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The geographical distribution during boreal summer is similar, but with lower frequencies, except for monsoon-influenced regions. Interannual variations over the Indo-Pacific region are strongly related to El Niño. TPs often develop downstream of extratropical upper-level troughs propagating into low latitudes, particularly over the wintertime eastern North Pacific and North Atlantic, but also in regions where mean upper-level easterlies do not generally favor equatorward Rossby wave propagation. Synoptic-scale variations in the quasi-permanent cloud bands associated with the South Pacific and South Atlantic convergence zones frequently produce TP-like anomalies, which are climatologically associated with downstream upper-level troughs. Some regions also feature TPs associated with mesoscale tropical disturbances. The new TP algorithm will serve as a basis for more in-depth studies in the future.


2003 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 470-475 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gunhild C. Rosqvist ◽  
Pernilla Schuber

AbstractThe location of South Georgia (54°S, 36°W) makes it a suitable site for the study of the climatic connections between temperate and polar environments in the Southern Hemisphere. Because the mass balance of the small cirque glaciers on South Georgia primarily responds to changes in summer temperature they can provide records of changes in the South Atlantic Ocean and atmospheric circulation. We use grey scale density, weight-loss-on-ignition, and grain size analyses to show that the proportion of glacially eroded sediments to organic sediments in Block Lake was highly variable during the last 7400 cal yr B.P. We expect that the glacial signal is clearly detectable above noise originating from nonglacial processes and assume that an increase in glacigenic sediment deposition in Block Lake has followed Holocene glacier advances. We interpret proglacial lake sediment sequences in terms of summer climate warming and cooling events. Prominent millennial-scale features include cooling events between 7200 and 7000, 5200 and 4400, and 2400 and 1600 cal yr B.P. and after 1000 cal yr B.P. Comparison with other terrestrial and marine records reveals that the South Georgian record captures all the important changes in Southern Hemisphere Holocene climate. Our results reveal a tentative coupling between climate changes in the South Atlantic and North Atlantic because the documented temperature changes on South Georgia are anti-phased to those in the North Atlantic.


Radiocarbon ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 639-652
Author(s):  
Martine Paterne ◽  
Nathalie Feuillet ◽  
Guy Cabioch ◽  
Elsa Cortijo ◽  
Dominique Blamart ◽  
...  

AbstractSea surface reservoir ages (R) are reported from radiocarbon (14C) measurements of the annual growth bands of coral Siderastrea siderea collected on the Atlantic coast off Martinique Island, in the Lesser Antilles volcanic arc. Mean values of R are similar between 1835 and 1845 during pre-anthropogenic times at 385±30 yr and between 1895 and 1905 at 382±20 yr when there was a huge eruption from the Montagne Pelée volcano in 1902–1903. Limited 14C aging of sea surface (~40 yr) may be due to enhanced volcanic activity. Variability of R is slightly greater during 1835–1845 than during 1895–1905. It is linked to a moderate increase of ∆14C of 5‰, strengthened by a clear increase of δ18O of 0.4‰. This is attributed to a decrease of the northward advection of the South Atlantic Waters into the western tropical North Atlantic and Caribbean Sea and relative enhanced westward flux of the tropical North Atlantic surface waters, the southern waters having lower values of 14C and δ18O than the North Atlantic ones. From 1835 to 1845, the fraction of the South Atlantic Waters transported up to Martinique Island was reduced from 25% to 15%.


1976 ◽  
Vol 54 (9) ◽  
pp. 1538-1541
Author(s):  
R. E. Zurbrigg ◽  
W. B. Scott

A new myctophid species, Diaphus hudsoni, was captured in the South Atlantic Ocean, and is described. It is similar to Diaphus subtilis Nafpaktitis, which occurs in the North Atlantic Ocean, but is definitely distinct with its slender, more numerous gill rakers (total 23–25), and non-continuous AOp–Prc series. The AO series numbers 5 + 5–6. The holotype is deposited in the Royal Ontario Museum, ROM 27569.


1974 ◽  
Vol 31 (10) ◽  
pp. 1666-1667
Author(s):  
Dale R. Calder

Boreohydra simplex was collected at a depth of 400 m in Cabot Strait, eastern Canada; this solitary, mud-dwelling hydroid is previously unreported from the western North Atlantic. Elsewhere, it has been found along the coasts of Scandinavia, Britain, and Iceland in the North Atlantic, and from South Georgia in the South Atlantic.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Olivé Abelló ◽  
Josep L. Pelegrí ◽  
Ignasi Vallès-Casanova

<p>The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), a key component of the Earth's climate system, is sustained through the northward transport of Southern Ocean waters to high latitudes. This returning limb of the AMOC consists largely of relatively cold waters entering from the Pacific Ocean through the Drake Passage, what is commonly referred to as cold-water route. Here, we explore the pathways and transit times of these Antarctic waters that are incorporated to the South Atlantic, with special attention to their recirculation in the subtropical gyre and their escape northward through the North Brazil Current. For this purpose, we use daily values of the climatological GLORYS12v1 velocity field, as obtained using data for 2002-2018 and track the trajectories with the help of the OceanParcels software. We trace the particles transiting through four sections in the Southern and South Atlantic Oceans: 64°W and 27°E, crossing entire Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) through the Drake Passage and off South Africa, respectively; 32°S, from the African coast out to 5°S, sampling the eastern boundary current system; and 21°S, from the American coast out to 30°W, sampling the North Brazil Current.</p><p>Particles are released daily in the Drake Passage down to 1800 m during one full year, its spatial distribution and number being proportional to the transport crossing each vertical portion of the section. This represents an annual-mean of 116.3 Sv entering the Atlantic sector through the Drake Passage, split into 13.3 Sv for surface (Subantarctic Surface Water, SASW, and Subantarctic Mode Water, SAMW), 40.2 Sv for intermediate (Antarctic Surface Water, AASW, and Antarctic Intermediate Water, AAIW) and 62.8 Sv for deep (Upper Circumpolar Deep Water, UCDW) water masses. The particles are then tracked forward, with a one-day resolution, during 20 years. The simulation shows that about 83% of the SASW/SAMW transport follow the ACC past South Africa while the remaining 17% are incorporated to the subtropical gyre. Among the latter, only 13% veer northward and cross the 21°S section. Regarding the intermediate waters, AASW/AAIW, 93% of transport follows the ACC, and 7% join the subtropical gyre. Finally, for the UCDW transport, which remains part of ACC, about 97% follow eastward as the ACC and only 3% drift cross the 32°S section, and only 4% of the latter reach through the 21°S section. The median times for the Drake Passage water particles to get to the 27°E, 32°S and 21°S sections are: 1.7, 2.1 and 5.7 yr for the SASW/SAMW; 2.3, 5.3 and 6.5 yr for the AASW/AAIW; and 3.3, 6.0 and 11.7 yr for the UCDW, respectively. Long tails in the age distributions reflect a high degree of recirculation, being remarkable the high presence of mesoscale eddies around 32°S over Cape Basin.</p>


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