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Influence of itinerant high and low-pressure systems on the oceanographic variables of the central region of the reef corridor of the southwestern Gulf of Mexico
  • José de Jesús Salas Pérez,
  • David Salas-Monreal,
  • Adán Guillermo Jordán Garza
José de Jesús Salas Pérez
Universidad Veracruzana

Corresponding Author:jsalasp39@yahoo.es

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David Salas-Monreal
Universidad Veracruzana
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Adán Guillermo Jordán Garza
Universidad Veracruza
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Abstract

High- and low-pressure systems traveling as Rossby waves from the western Pacific to the eastern Gulf of Mexico induce fluctuations in oceanographic parameters (currents, temperature, sea level, and biovolume) for a short time. Using meteorological dataset from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-(NARR-NCEP) (North American Regional Reanalysis-National Centers for Environmental Prediction) in the western Gulf of Mexico, those fluctuations are described for ten days of November 2008. In addition, four ADCPs (Acoustic Current Profilers) provided data at four reefs of the Northern location of the Parque Nacional Sistema Arrecifal Veracruzano (PNSAV). Results showed two main wind patterns: One blowing from the south, locally named Surada wind, when a low-pressure system is over the Mexican territory, increasing the air temperature of the western Gulf of Mexico to about 25°C; and the other blows from the northern area of the Gulf of Mexico, generating a local wind named Norte wind. It happens when an itinerant high-pressure system passes over the study area, diminishing air temperature to 20°C. Both wind patterns impact the seasonal marine wind-driven currents which flows to the south in the fall winter. However, the itinerant low-high pressure systems produce a reversing of that seasonal wind-driven current for a short period (five days). During Suradas, the marine current flow to the north; oppositely, during Nortes, the marine current remains to the south. In addition, a residual current with an almost anticyclonic pattern occurring. These changes in marine circulation caused variations in oceanographic parameters in the northern PNSAV.