Interannual variability of the sea surface temperature in the South Brazil Bight

• Published in: Geophysical research letters Vol. 26; no. 14; pp. 2061 - 2064
• Main Authors: Campos, Edmo J. D., Lentini, Carlos A. D., Miller, Jerry L., Piola, Alberto R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC Blackwell Publishing Ltd 15.07.1999; American Geophysical Union
• Subjects: Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; External geophysics; Marine; Physics of the oceans; Sea-air exchange processes; South America; Brazil; America; ASW, Brazil, South Brazil Bight; Coastal Waters of East Brazil; Sea surface; El Nino; Winter; Continental shelf; Southern oscillation; Surface temperature; Time-series analysis; Anomaly; Interannual variation
• ISSN: 0094-8276; 1944-8007
• DOI: 10.1029/1999GL900297

In the austral winter of 1993, during a COROAS hydrographic cruise in the South Brazil Bight (SBB), an unexpected mass of cold and fresh water was observed on the continental shelf near 23°S. Subsequent analyses of different data sets suggested that the origin of that water was probably the Argentine continental shelf, near the Rio de la Plata mouth. In this article, a 13‐year time series of AVHRR Sea Surface Temperature anomalies is analyzed to investigate the occurrence of this phenomenon in other periods. The results of these analyses and a good correlation with the Southern Oscillation Index suggest that the penetration of these waters into the SBB occurs in a frequency that may be associated with ENSO events.