Eddy activity in the four major upwelling systems from satellite altimetry (1992–2007)

Eddy activity in the four major upwelling systems from satellite altimetry (1992–2007)

Progress in Oceanography 83 (2009) 117–123 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Progress in Oceanography journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/loc...

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Progress in Oceanography 83 (2009) 117–123

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Progress in Oceanography journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/pocean

Eddy activity in the four major upwelling systems from satellite altimetry (1992–2007) Alexis Chaigneau a,b,*, Gérard Eldin c,d, Boris Dewitte b,c,d a

Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace (IPSL), Laboratoire d’Océanographie et de Climatologie: Expérimentation et Analyse Numérique (LOCEAN), UPMC/CNRS/IRD/MNHN, 4 Place Jussieu, Case 100, 75252 Paris cedex 05, France b Instituto del MAR del PEru (IMARPE), Esquina general Gamarra y Valle, Callao, Peru c Université de Toulouse, UPS, LEGOS, 14 Av, Edouard Belin, 31400 Toulouse, France d IRD, LEGOS, 31400 Toulouse, France

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history: Received 18 July 2008 Received in revised form 19 February 2009 Accepted 16 July 2009 Available online 24 July 2009

a b s t r a c t Eddy activity in the four major eastern boundary upwelling systems (EBUS) is investigated using 15 years of satellite altimetry data. Based on the analysis of more than 4000 long-lived eddy trajectories in every EBUS, we show that mesoscale structures are mainly generated along the continental coasts and south of the main archipelagos and propagate westward with velocities increasing toward the equator. These mesoscale eddies, having radii of 70–160 km, are then frequently observed along the coastal transition zones and frontal regions and some large oceanic areas are preferentially populated by cyclonic or anticyclonic eddies. Temporal variations of the number of newly-formed eddies and the associated eddy activity index, defined as the mean eddy energy density, are finally examined at seasonal and interannual scales. The strongest seasonal (interannual, respectively) variations are observed in the California (Benguela) upwelling systems. The proposed indices also exhibit contrasted long-term trends in each EBUS, which suggests that eddy activity might be sensitive to a warming climate. Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Superimposed on large-scale currents, mesoscale eddies are ubiquitous features throughout the oceans that play a significant role in the transfer of energy and water properties across different spatial and temporal scales. They are known to transport physical properties over long distances away from their region of formation, but they also impact the distribution of chemical properties and biogeochemistry. For instance, cyclonic eddies tend to upwell nutrient-enriched deep waters into the euphotic zone, thereby increasing biological community production (Falkowski et al., 1991; McGillicuddy et al., 1998). A recent study also suggests that the interaction of wind-driven currents with mesoscale structures could dampen upwelling in cyclonic eddies and produce upwelling in anticyclonic eddies (McGillicuddy et al., 2007). Both cyclonic (CE) and anticyclonic eddies (AE) have a profound effect on the physical and biological environments and can impact the whole marine ecosystem from plankton distribution to higher trophic levels such as the feeding and growth of eggs and larvae (Bakun, 2006), pelagic species

* Corresponding author. Address: Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace (IPSL), Laboratoire d’Océanographie et de Climatologie: Expérimentation et Analyse Numérique (LOCEAN), UPMC/CNRS/IRD/MNHN, 4 Place Jussieu, Case 100, 75252 Paris cedex 05, France. Tel.: +51 1 429 20 94;tel/fax: +51 1 441 32 23. 0079-6611/$ - see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.pocean.2009.07.012

(Logerwell and Smith, 2001; Seki et al., 2002; Domokos et al., 2007) or seabirds (Spear et al., 2001; Yen et al., 2006). Eastern boundary upwelling systems (EBUS) are very dynamic and frequently populated with eddies which can extend the area of high biological productivity offshore (Correa-Ramirez et al., 2007) and actively participate to the cross-shore transport of coastal properties, forming a link with the open ocean environment. Given the clear importance of eddies on marine ecosystem, this study provides a comparative description of eddy characteristics in the four major EBUS, namely the Peru-Chile (PCUS), California (CALUS), Canary (CANUS) and Benguela (BENUS) upwelling systems. In particular, based on the analysis of 15 years of satellite altimetry measurements, we detect, through an automatic procedure, well-formed and long-lived eddies (radius larger than 30 km, amplitude higher than 2 cm, and life times longer than 35 days). We then investigate: (1) the preferential areas for their generation and their mean propagation characteristics; (2) the mean frequency and the relative proportion of CE and AE; (3) the temporal variations, at timescales larger than the seasonal cycle, of the activity of newly-formed eddies. These results, which indicate large geographical heterogeneity in eddy activity both within and between each EBUS, can be viewed as background materials for the understanding of the observed differences in productivity and biogeochemical properties of the EBUS (Carr and Kearns, 2003). Our study extends the work of Chelton et al. (2007) by spe-

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cifically focusing on EBUS and providing maps of eddy genesis, frequency and polarity, followed by a discussion on the temporal variations of eddy activity over the last 15 years.

2. Data and methods 2.1. Altimetric sea-level anomaly data Sea-level anomaly (SLA) data used in this study are based on the gridded multimission altimeter product produced by Ssalto/Duacs and distributed by CLS – Space Oceanography Division (Toulouse, France). The combined altimeter data set, which provides the best available spatio-temporal resolution for observing mesoscale features (Le Traon and Dibarboure, 1999; Pascual et al., 2006), spans the period October 1992–December 2007 and corresponds to SLA relative to a 7-year mean (1993–1999). SLA data are weekly mapped onto a 1/3°  1/3° latitude/longitude grid by an improved space/time objective analysis (Le Traon and Dibarboure, 1999; Ducet et al., 2000; Le Traon et al., 2001). From the spatial SLA gradients and under the geostrophic approximation, residual seasurface geostrophic velocity components, eddy kinetic energy (EKE) and vorticity (f) are computed (see Chaigneau et al. (2008) for more details). Note that during the ERS-1 ice-monitoring and geodetic mission (26 December 1993–31 March 1995), ERS data were unavailable for ocean mesoscale studies. Consequently for this period, only the Topex/Poseidon (T/P) data were used in the merged product, which has been shown to cause a reduction in EKE levels of around 30% globally (Ducet et al., 2000). We can thus also expect in our study some decrease in EKE and in eddy activity during the period with only T/P data.

2.2. Eddy detection and tracking procedure The eddy identification/tracking algorithm used in this study is a slightly modified version of the ‘‘winding-angle” method developed by Chaigneau et al. (2008). The CE (AE) detection algorithm involves, first, searching for eddy centers associated with local SLA minima (maxima) in a moving window of 4  4 grid points. Then, for each possible cyclonic (anticyclonic) center, the algorithm searches for closed SLA contours with an increment (decrement) of 103 m. The outer closed SLA contour, embedding only the considered center, corresponds to the eddy edge. Instead of using SLA contours, Chaigneau et al. (2008) detected eddy edges from closed streamlines in the geostrophic current field. However, in the geostrophic approximation, streamlines are parallel to SLA contours and closed streamlines correspond to closed SLA contours. In order to optimize computation time, eddy edges are thus detected here using closed SLA contours.

For each identified eddy, the apparent radius (R) corresponds to the radius of an equivalent circular vortex having the same area, whereas the eddy intensity (EI), or energy density, corresponds to the mean EKE over the vortex normalized by its area. To measure the overall eddy activity in an EBUS for a given date, we define an eddy activity index (EAI) as the average of the eddy intensities over each considered domain for this particular time. In a second stage, each vortex is tracked from the time of its appearance to its dissipation. Eddy tracking is performed by comparing each eddy at the current time t with those at time t + dt (dt = 1 week) within a radius of 150 km. We evaluate a cost function CF of each eddy pair having the same polarity which depends on the mismatch between their distances, vorticities, kinetic energies and radii:

CF ¼

 2  2  2 2  dD dn dEKE dR þ þ þ 50 10 10 1:3  106

where dD, dn, dEKE and dR, are the differences in distance, vorticity, EKE and radius between the vortex at time t and any vortex at time t + dt. The relative weights are determined by estimating average departures for successfully formed tracks for limited trials. In the cost function matrix so obtained, we find the minimum cost and we classify the eddy at time t + dt as a continuation of the one at time t. As eddies may disappear between consecutive maps, in particular if they pass into the gaps between satellite groundtracks, we search for the same eddy for 3 weeks after its disappearance.

3. Results Given the accuracy of satellite measurements and AVISO product (Le Traon and Ogor, 1998; Ducet et al., 2000; Chelton and Schlax, 2003), and in order to quantify and track persistent features, we only consider here long-lived eddies, having amplitudes P2 cm and lifetimes P35 days. In every EBUS, around 4000 long-lived trajectories are identified during the 15-year period, which represent 40–45% of the total tracks (Table 1). At the scale of EBUS basins, there is no significant difference between the number of CE and AE trajectories. On average, around 60–100 eddies are observed per week in every EBUS, and 4–7 are generated (Table 1). The total area covered by CE and AE represents 25–30% of the considered oceanic region (Table 1). These percentages are independent of the size of the basin, as also illustrated by Chaigneau et al. (2008) who obtained similar values in a smaller region along the Peruvian coast. Although the mean statistics are similar in the four EBUS, the next sections indicate large geographical heterogeneity of eddy properties within and between each EBUS.

Table 1 Eddy statistics in the four major EBUS. Numbers in brackets in the fourth column denote the number of eddies generated each week. Number of eddies per weekly map

Area occupied by eddies (106 km2)

Basin area (106 km2)

Percentage of basin area covered by eddies (%)

Peru-Chile (5–40°S; 70–100°W) 1946 2008 44.9

76 (5)

2.21

9.13

24.2

California (20–50°N; 105–140°W) 2264 2348 39.4

75 (5)

1.75

5.94

29.5

Benguela (10–40°S; 0–30°E) 1787 1664

46.5

58 (4)

1.55

5.72

27.1

Canary (10–45°N; 40–5°W) 2756 2631

40.9

99 (7)

2.52

8.65

29.1

Number of trajectories Cyclonic eddies

Anticyclonic eddies

Percentage of long-lived trajectories

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a] Eddy genesis

20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0

45ºN 30ºN 15ºN 0º 15ºS 30ºS 120ºW

90ºW

60ºW

30ºW



30ºE

c] Eddy radius

b] Eddy propagation velocity

10

30ºN

8

15ºN

6

0º 4

15ºS 2

30ºS 120ºW

90ºW

60ºW

30ºW



30ºE

0

d] Radius and velocity as a function of latitude

km 160

45ºN

45ºN

cm s -1

45ºN

140

Eddy radius

Eddy westward speed

Rossby radius

Rossby westward speed

30ºN

30ºN 15ºN

120

15ºN



100

0º 15ºS

15ºS 80

30ºS

30ºS 120ºW

90ºW

60ºW

30ºW



30ºE

60

0

50

100 km

150

0

5

cm s -1

10

15

Fig. 1. Long-lived eddy genesis and propagation. (a) Number of newly generated eddies. (b) Propagation velocity vectors of both cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies. (c) Mean radius of long-lived eddies. (d) Zonal average of radii (left) and propagation speeds (right) of long-lived eddies (green lines), with red lines indicating the Rossby radius of deformation (left) and propagation speed of first baroclinic mode Rossby waves (right).

3.1. Mean eddy genesis and propagation Fig. 1a shows the geographical distribution of the eddy genesis, which is defined at each grid point as the number of times a new eddy is formed over the 15-year period. In the four EBUS, eddies are mainly generated along the coasts and some localized ‘‘hot spots” can be discerned. For instance in the PCUS, higher numbers of eddies are formed off Pisco (15°S), but also between 25 and 30°S and south of Concepción (37°S); in the CALUS, eddies are born principally in the southern part of the sea of Cortez (20°S), but also off Punta Eugenia (28°N), Conception Point (34°N) and Cape Blanco (43°N); in the BENUS, numerous eddies are generated around Lüderitz (26°S) off Namibia and at 15°S off Angola; finally, in the CANUS, the main eddy formation sites are found south of the three archipelagos (Azores, Canary and Cape Verde islands), west of Portugal, and around Cape Ghir (32°N) and Dakar (15°N) along the North-African coast. The mechanisms responsible for eddy generation in these different regions may be multiple: interaction of the large-scale currents with the bottom topography, coastline geometry or islands (Røed and Shi, 1999; Tseng and Ferziger, 2001; Arístegui et al., 1994); local baroclinic instability and wind-forcing near the coast (Pares-Sierra et al., 1993); vorticity input from windstress curl through Ekman pumping (Kelly et al., 1993); vorticity conservation and instability of coastal currents (Leth and Shaffer, 2001; Willett et al., 2006); coastal-trapped-waves of equatorial origin (Zamudio et al., 2008), etc. However, it is noteworthy that, due to the coarse resolution of the altimeters, only well-formed eddies can be detected and tracked. This may imply some uncertainties in the identification of preferential areas for eddy genesis where smaller or complex structures may not be captured by remote sensing. Once generated and according to quasi-geostrophic theory, eddies on a b-plane should propagate westward with a speed proportional to the vertical stratification (Cushman-Roisin, 1994). The vertical stratification also leads to an expected eddy size, the Rossby radius of deformation (Rr), which can be estimated from in situ

observations (Chelton et al., 1998). Both Rr and the westward drift are expected to decrease toward the poles but also eastward due to geographical variations of the stratification, which tends to be weakest in the eastern basins due to the spreading of the isotherms in upwelling areas. As expected, eddies drift westward and their propagation velocities increase toward the equator (Fig. 1b). Also, the meridional velocity component indicates a divergence of the eddy field from the equator and high-latitude regions and a convergence at around ±15–30° (Fig. 1b). When distinguishing longer lived eddies, with lifetimes longer than 3 months, CE and AE tend to move slightly poleward and equatorward, respectively (not shown), as previously observed in EBUS (Morrow et al., 2004; Chaigneau and Pizarro, 2005a; Chaigneau et al., 2008) and globally (Chelton et al., 2007). The general distribution of eddy radii is also in agreement with the quasi-geostrophic theory with eddy size decreasing toward eastern edges and toward the poles related to a change in stratification (Fig. 1c). However, as mesoscale eddies generation is often associated with non-linear processes, we examine the departure from the linear theory by comparing R to Rr and the propagation velocities to the phase speeds of the first baroclinic Rossby waves (Fig. 1d). When zonally averaging over every EBUS, R increases from 70 km at ±40° to 140 km at ±10°. Poleward of ±15° these typical scales are around twice Rr, whereas equatorward of ±15° the latitudinal increase of eddy sizes is weak compared to the slope of the Rossby radius curve. In terms of velocity, eddy westward speeds are rather in agreement with the theoretical values south of 25°S in the Southern Hemisphere and north of 35°N in the Northern Hemisphere with values of 1–3 cm s1. In contrast, equatorward of ±30°, eddy propagation velocities increase from 5 cm s1 at ±30° to 10 cm s1 at 10°S, with a weaker slope than the theoretical phase speeds of baroclinic Rossby waves. As also suggested from inspection of Fig. 1b and c, no significant difference was observed in the latitudinal variations of eddy radii and propagation velocities neither between PCUS and BENUS nor between CALUS and CANUS.

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a]Long-lived eddy frequency

%

b] Polarity

60

0.5

45ºN

45ºN

0.4

50

0.3

30ºN

30ºN

0.2

40

0.1

15ºN

15ºN 30



0º 20

15ºS

10

30ºS 120ºW

90ºW

60ºW

30ºW



30ºE

0

-0.1

15ºS

-0.2 -0.3

30ºS

-0.4

120ºW

90ºW

60ºW

30ºW



30ºE

-0.5

Fig. 2. Long-lived eddy frequency (left) and polarity (right). See text for definitions.

3.2. Mean eddy frequency and polarity The mean geographical distribution of eddy frequency EF (EF = FAE + FCE), which corresponds at each location to the percentage of time that the point is located within a vortex, is depicted in Fig. 2a. In every EBUS, long-lived eddies are frequently observed in the coastal transition zones (CTZ) and in frontal regions where they also explain a relatively large part of SLA variance (Chelton et al., 2007). In contrast, equatorward of ±15–20°, EF decreases, probably due to the faster eddy propagation in these regions (Fig. 1b) which weakens the probability of being inside an eddy. The high SLA variance observed in these latitude bands (not shown) is also more likely to be associated with long-wave dynamics rather than mesoscale eddies. In the PCUS, eddies are frequently observed in the CTZ extending from the coast of Chile to 600–1000 km offshore. This CTZ is wider and more diffuse in the north and narrower but better defined off central Chile. Strong EF is also observed along the subtropical front which is southeastward oriented between 100°W and the Chilean coast (Chaigneau and Pizarro, 2005b). In the CALUS, high values of EF are observed within 600 km of the coast south of 42°N with the maximum offshore signal between 32 and 38°N. In contrast, long-lived eddies are rarely observed north of 42°N where EKE levels are also weak (Strub and James, 2000). In the BENUS, EF is particularly high south of 20°S due to the northwestward advection of eddies shed into the South Atlantic from the retroflection of the Agulhas Current (Gordon and Haxby, 1990; Byrne et al., 1995). These high EF levels are also reinforced by westward advection of eddies generated off Lüderitz (Fig. 1). Finally, in the CANUS, EF is relatively high southwest of the Canary and Cape Verde islands, but also overall, along and north of the Azores Current, or Subtropical Front at 35°N. High EF along the subtropical fronts of both the PCUS and CANUS are not associated with strong local eddy generation (Fig. 1a). Eddies seem to be rather developed away from the fronts and propagate and converge (Fig. 1b) along them. The westward propagation and intensification of eddies and Meddies along the North Atlantic Subtropical Front have been previously observed (Pingree, 1997; Pingree et al., 1999; Drillet et al., 2005; Siedler et al., 2005). The Azores Current is also known to meander and shed eddies, which can be re-absorbed into the jet, merged or coalesced with other rings (Pingree, 1997; Pingree et al., 1999). It is thus unexpected to observe relatively weak eddy genesis along the main axis of the subtropical fronts, particularly in the CANUS (Fig. 1a). This problem may be attributed to a deficiency of our tracking algorithm which can underestimate the number of generated eddies by automatically extending trajectories which end near a newly formed eddy. In fact, when considering short-lived eddies (lifetime <35 days), more eddies are generated along the fronts (not shown).

Eddy polarity represents the probability of a point, inside a vortex, being inside a CE (eddy polarity <0) or AE (eddy polarity >0). The mean polarity distribution, computed as (FA  FCE)/(FAE + FCE) over the 15-year period of the altimetry dataset is presented in Fig. 2b. It shows the existence of large-scale polarized regions in the four EBUS: In the PCUS, a wide cyclonic band between 10 and 30°S is surrounded by two anticyclonic regions, in agreement with Chaigneau and Pizarro (2005a) who also observed more CE than AE trajectories between 10° and 30°S. In the CALUS, south of 30°N eddies tend to be rather cyclonic, whereas north of 30°N the distribution is unclear. Along the Namibia and Angola coasts in BENUS, CE (AE) are frequently observed south (north) of 20°S. In the offshore ocean of this EBUS, the opposite is observed. Finally, Fig. 2b shows that the region North of 32°N in CANUS is rather anticyclonic, whereas three latitudinal cyclonic bands are centered at 15°N, 27°N and 32°N. Along the North-African coast, eddy polarity is rather anticyclonic. The eddy polarity distribution in the four EBUS is consistent with other regional studies (DiGiacomo and Holt, 2001; Stegmann and Schwing, 2007; Chaigneau and Pizarro, 2005a) and with global maps of cyclonic and anticyclonic motions computed from near-surface drifters (Griffa et al., 2008). Note that the patterns of Fig. 2 are not significantly altered when eddy frequency and polarity are estimated over the periods 1992–1997, 1998–2002 or 2003–2007 (not shown), which suggests that their distribution is tightly linked to some aspects of the mean circulation. 3.3. Temporal variations of eddy activity Seasonal and interannual variations of the number of newly generated eddies (N) and the corresponding eddy activity index  PN  EIi are displayed in Fig. 3. In general, the variations EAI ¼ i¼1 N of N are relatively weak (±10–15% around the mean) whereas the EAI can experience important temporal variability (up to ±50% around the mean). On average, 20–30 eddies are formed per month in every EBUS (see also Table 1) with a mean EAI of 3– 4  103 cm2 s2 km2 except in the BENUS where this index reaches 30  103 cm2 s2 km2. The stronger EAI in the BENUS is related to energetic Agulhas eddies which evidence large values of kinetic energy. At seasonal scales, the PCUS exhibits the weakest variability and neither N nor EAI shows a marked seasonal cycle (Fig. 3a). The CALUS shows the strongest seasonal cycle with a clear boreal summer maximum in EAI from June to September. The positive phase of EAI may be related to the presence of an equatorward coastal jet which moves offshore from spring to fall developing energetic mesoscale structures (Strub and James, 2000). The variance of the annual harmonic fitted to the EAI seasonal cycle explains 60% of the seasonal EAI variance observed in this EBUS (not shown).

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%

%

a] Seasonal cycle 50 40 30 20 10 0 −10 −20 −30 −40 −50

50 40 30 20 10 0 −10 −20 −30 −40 −50

PCUS: N=21.4 EAI=2.5

J F M A M J J A S O N D Month

J F M A M J J A S O N D Month

CANUS: N=28.2 EAI=4.0

BENUS: N=18.7 EAI=29.5

CALUS: N=21.4 EAI=4.4

J F M A M J J A S O N D Month

J F M A M J J A S O N D Month

b] Interannual variations CALUS: N: 1.7% EAI: -2.8%

PCUS: N: -0.7% EAI: -12.7%

F=244.7

93

95

97

99 01 Year

03

p<0.01

05

07 93

F=4.0

95

97

99 01 Year

BENUS: N: -2.7% EAI: -16.5%

F=37.5

p=0.05

03

05

07

93

95

97

99 01 Year

03

CANUS: N: 0.7% EAI: 1.3%

F=0.4

p<0.01

05

07 93

95

97

99 01 Year

p=0.5

03

05

07

Fig. 3. Temporal variations of the number of generated eddies (N) and the corresponding eddy activity index (EAI in 103 cm2 s2 km2) in the four major EBUS. (a) Seasonal cycle of N (gray bars) and EAI (black bars), computed in percentage around the annual mean; bold numbers in the upper right corners indicates the average number of eddies generated each month (N) and the associated EAI. (b) Interannual variations of N (gray thin line) and EAI (black thin line), computed in percentage around a 12-year mean (April 1995–March 2007, outside the shaded gray areas); Black thick lines show linear trends for EAI whereas shaded gray areas correspond to the periods not taken into account for the computation of the 12-year mean and linear trends. Bold numbers in the upper right corners indicate the slope of the linear trends observed over the 12-year period whereas the results of the f-test (F and p values), testing the significance of the EAI trends, are displayed at the bottom. Interannual variations were computed by applying a 6-month forward/backward moving average to the timeseries.

In the BENUS, N does not show a marked seasonal cycle, whereas EAI seasonal variance is explained by both the annual harmonic (40% of the seasonal variance) and the semi-annual component (20% of the seasonal variance). This may reflect the influence of distinct eddy sources. In particular, there is an area of year round coastal upwelling between 15 and 30°S, two regions of seasonal upwelling between 30 and 34°S and between 18 and 26°E with maximum intensity during spring and summer, and the regular advection of mesoscale eddies pinched off from the Agulhas retroflection. Finally, the CANUS exhibits a semi-annual cycle in both N and EAI with two maxima in March–April and October–November, and two minima from December to February and from July to September. In this EBUS, the semi-annual harmonic explains more than 60% (45%, respectively) of the EAI (N) seasonal variance whereas the annual component explains around 10% (30%). This semi-annual signal may originate from the upwelling variability in the central part of the northwest African coast (21–32°N) where persistent upwelling throughout the year reaches its maximum intensity also during fall and spring (Santos et al., 2005). Also, the EAI maximum observed in October–November coincides with higher energy levels and generation of cyclonic eddies associated with the Azores Current (Mouriño et al., 2003). At interannual scales, every EBUS exhibits a significant decrease of EAI in 1994 ranging from 20% to 40% (Fig. 3b). This is consistent with the global EKE reduction of 30% in SLA products between January 1994 and March 1995, when only one satellite was available (Ducet et al., 2000). Both upwelling systems of the Pacific Ocean (PCUS and CALUS) show relatively weak interannual variations of less than ±15% around the mean. However in the CALUS, the mean eddy energy density increased significantly in 2003–2005 whereas it has been strongly reduced since 2005. In the South-Atlantic Ocean, the BENUS shows strong interannual variations with a negative phase in 1994–1996 followed by two strong positive phases in 1997 and from mid 1998 to mid 2000 reaching an EAI anomaly of +50%. Since 2001, the EAI is reduced by 15–30% except in 2004 where a slight positive anomaly is

observed. Finally in the North-Atlantic Ocean, the EAI in the CANUS shows aperiodic oscillations, with positive phases in 1995–1997 and 2001–2004, and two negative phases in 1997–2000 and in 2004–2006. In an attempt to relate the observed interannual EAI variations to some aspects of the climate variability, a 6-month backward/ forward moving average (similar to what was used to filter EAI) is also applied to ‘classical’ climatic indexes, namely the Niño3.4 index (sea-surface temperature averaged over 180–130°W; 5°S– 5°N), the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) and the North Alantic Oscillation index (NAO) (source: http://climexp.knmi.nl/). We find that in the PCUS, the mean eddy energy density associated with newly-formed eddies is significantly anti-correlated to the Niño3.4 Index at 39% whereas it is strongly and significantly correlated to the SOI with a value of 53%. In the CANUS the EAI is significantly anti-correlated to the NAO index at 29%. Superimposed on the seasonal and interannual EAI variations, we observe significant long-term linear trends (black lines in Fig. 3b). The latter was computed from April 1995 to March 2007, a 12-year period excluding the time interval when only one satellite was available. The EAI associated with newly-formed eddies decreased, respectively, by 13% in the PCUS, 3% in the CALUS, 17% in the BENUS. Using the f-test, we find that these trends are statistically significant at the 0.01 level for the PCUS and BENUS and at the 0.05 level for the CALUS. In contrast the EAI in the CANUS remained rather stable with a slight and non-significant increase of 1%. Interestingly, these changes are not associated with significant trends in the number of eddies nor in their size but with a reduction in EKE.

4. Summary Based on 15 years of satellite altimetry measurements, the dynamics and some of the characteristics of long-lived mesoscale eddies are investigated in the four major upwelling systems. On average, and despite significant differences in physical and topo-

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graphic properties, all the EBUS exhibit similar statistics. The most important discrepancies are found in the distribution of long-lived eddy frequency/polarity and eddy genesis which may be a sign of different forcing mechanisms. Eddies are generated at some ‘‘hot spots” along the western coasts of each continent and south of the main archipelagos in the CANUS. They propagate offshore and are frequently observed along the coastal transition zones and the major fronts. Poleward of around ±30°, eddy propagation speeds are in agreement with the linear theory. In contrast, at lower latitudes, where they propagate faster, non-linear processes and interaction with large-scale circulation may dissipate energy and slow down eddy propagation; this could result in observed westward speeds much weaker than the ones predicted by the linear theory. In every EBUS, regions of different polarities are identified, which may indicate that preferential ‘‘vortex streets” exist, depending on polarity. This could have important implications for both the horizontal and vertical transport of physical/biogeochemical properties. For instance in the Chilean upwelling, high levels of chlorophyll-a concentration have been observed along cyclonic eddy paths far from coastal upwelling zones, associated to both eddy chlorophyll advection and eddy nutrient pumping (Correa-Ramirez et al., 2007). Conversely, high chlorophyll-a values along anticyclonic eddy trajectories are only observed near the coast being mainly linked to eddy advection of chlorophyll-rich waters from coastal upwelling. However, these results contrast with the findings of Rossi et al. (2008) who noted in the BENUS and CANUS negative correlation between horizontal mixing and chlorophyll standing stocks suggesting that in upwelling regions eddies do not tend to enhance biological productivity. Future investigations are thus necessary to better understand the impact of mesoscale structures on biological activity in the EBUS. The temporal variations of eddy genesis and their associated intensity have shown that the PCUS experiences relatively weak seasonal and interannual variations. In contrast, the CALUS (BENUS) shows the strongest seasonal (interannual) variations and a relatively weak or moderate variability at interannual (seasonal) scale. The CANUS shows moderate modulation of eddy energy density at both the seasonal and interannual scales. The interannual EAI variations in the PCUS (CANUS, respectively) are rather anti-correlated with the Niño3.4 index (NAO index) and correlated with the SOI. Despite the limitation of the relatively short record, linear trends show significant decreases of the energy density of newly-formed eddies in the PCUS, the CALUS and the BENUS. This could indicate that warmer large scale oceanic conditions, as observed in recent years, are associated with a reduction of the mean eddy energy density in most of the EBUS. This hypothesis is reinforced by recent results showing that the atmospheric EKE at mid-latitudes exhibits a maximum for a climate with mean temperature similar to that of present-day earth, with significantly smaller values both for warmer and for colder climates (O’Gorman and Schneider, 2008). However, as also mentioned by these authors, an increase of the meridional temperature gradients could lead to an increase in EKE. These results, obtained from general circulation atmospheric models, raise the issue of whether or not eddy activity in EBUS can be used as an index for measuring the impact of climate change on the ocean circulation. This will deserve further study as longer records and high-resolution regional oceanic reanalyses become available. At this stage, our study provides a benchmark for the validation and interpretation of regional high-resolution oceanic simulations, which in turn could allow investigating the modulation of the mesoscale activity associated to the change in large-scale circulation. Acknowledgements The AVISO altimeter product was produced by Ssalto/Duacs and distributed by Aviso with support from CNES. We thank two anony-

mous reviewers for their constructive comments, and A.D. McIntyre for the English edition of the text. A. Chaigneau and B. Dewitte benefited from funding from the PCCC program (Peru Chile Climate Change) of the ANR (Agence Nationale de la Recherche).

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