Links between climate and the upper ocean structure in the Canary current upwelling system

Sea surface temperature differences between coastal and offshore waters and Ekman transport inferred from the wind velocity have been used to construct upwelling indices. Those indices have been widely used in climatological studies. In the present research we look to the upper layer structure of the ocean, down to 500 m depth, to infer relations between climate and the upwelling regimes. In particular, we explore the links between climate variability and the three-dimensional spatial structure of the upwelling activity along the Canary Current Upwelling System (CCUS) sector limited to 25-35° N, where upwelling is permanent, but intensified during the summer. The vertical structure of the CCUS is studied using vertical profiles of temperature, salinity, density and spiciness from the World Ocean Atlas (WOA). Monthly grids are retrieved for the past 30 years and vertical profiles exported at selected locations. The aim is to identify inter-annual and seasonal changes in the thermocline and the mix layer depth and link them to the upwelling characteristics. We then relate periods of strong upwelling with large-scale modes of climate variability, namely the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and Eastern Atlantic pattern (EA). Time series of winter composites of NAO and EA are separated into positive and negative phases and their signatures quantified through composites of SST, salinity and density. The results provide the first assessment of inter-annual variability of the Canary upwelling current at both the surface and throughout depth and contributes towards understanding the connection between the vertical ocean structure and the large-scale climate modes. The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support FCT through project UIDB/50019/2020 – IDL.