Upper Ocean Circulation In The Cape Sao Vicente (Iberian Peninsual) Region: The Coastal Counter Current

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The coastal upwellingregion near Cape São Vicente, the southwestern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, was studied using satellite images of sea surface temperature and time series of sea level height and wind velocities, recorded at coastal sites within 200 km of the Cape, and in situ CTD and ADCP data. Summer upwelling is more intense and persistent off the western coast than off the southern coast, where a recurrent warm coastal countercurrentflows westward, and at times turns northward along the western coast after reaching the Cape, contrasting with the upwellingregime. Empirical evidence show the presence of an alongshore pressure gradient, stronger in summer, driving the coastal progression of the warm counterflow. Wind forcing plays an important role in the circulation by augmenting or diminishing the effect of the pre-existing alongshore pressure gradient, dictating the extent of the poleward progression of the inshore countercurrent. The hydrographic structure and kinematics revealed by the in situ observations, taken during an upwellingrelaxation event, support the mesoscale dynamics that was suggested by the measurements taken from land and space.