Temperature and salinity fluctuations along the Basque Coast (southeastern Bay of Biscay), from 1986 to 2000, related to climatic factors

Time-series of oceanographic and meteorological data collected off the Basque coast, SE Bay of Biscay, show tendencies concurring with the anomaly patterns described for the NE Atlantic area as a whole during the late 1980s and 1990s. Temperature and salinity maxima were reached in the early 1990s after a period of dry and relatively warm winters related to the dominance of south and westerly winds. In the SE corner of the Bay of Biscay, this atmospheric regime increases the occurrence of Eastern North Atlantic Central Water (ENACW) over the continental shelf. Other maxima were recorded during the second half of the 1990s, but the correspondence between the increase of temperature and salinity and the occurrence of ENACW type waters is lower than in the previous period of observation. It would appear that the same climatic regime that favours the intrusion of the ENACW into the SE Bay of Biscay is also associated with warm and dry weather conditions that maintain the temperature-salinity characteristics of the Atlantic Central Waters in this area.

Article from Marine Science Symposia Vol. 219 - "Hydrobiological variability in the ICES Area, 1990-1999", symposium held in Edinburgh, 8-10 August 2001. To access  the remaining articles please click on the keyword "MSS Vol. 219".