On the onset of the Gulf of Cadiz Coastal Countercurrent

Abstract

We investigate the onset of the warm counterflow recurrent in summer periods along the shelf of the Gulf of Cadiz and southwest of Iberia. Fully realistic and idealized numerical configurations are used with the aim of partitioning the different processes at play in the complex circulation of the Gulf of Cadiz. The realistic model simulates in great detail an event of warm counterflow in August 2000. The analysis of the idealized and sensitivity experiments allow us to conclude that the counterflow is mainly wind-driven in response to short but strong Levanter episodes, recurrent after periods of persistent upwelling-favorable situations. Copyright 2007 by the American Geophysical Union.