Abstract

In the Canary Current System (CCS), coherent structures and concurrent movement of surface waters to offshore regions such as meanders, filaments and eddies strongly control the bio-optical proprieties response to coastal upwelling process. One of the outstanding problems is to understand the mechanisms of the bio-optical proprieties transfer and the coast-open ocean connection mechanism.

We use a combination of satellite data and derived mesoscale indicators to provide a comprehensive view of the relationship between the physical and bio-optical proprieties off North-west Africa upwelling region (part of the CCS) in terms of wind impulse responsible of sea turbulence, sea surface temperature (SST) response of the wind stress and ocean color proprieties considered as bio-optical ocean response.

To optimize the predicted ranges of these parameters, Generalized Additive Model (GAM) was applied.

We conclude that the energetic mesoscale structures as seen from altimetry satellite observations can provide insight into dominant transport pathways controlling the horizontal bio-optical exchange from the coastal area to the ocean interior.