Posted by Ricardo Matano on May 11, 2001 at 14:15:25:
Regina,
Thanks for your question. It seems reasonable to assume that, to zeroth-order, the seasonal variability of the Brazil Current is linked to the seasonal variability of wind stress curl. This is not always the case for western boundary regimes (e.g., Anderson and Corry, DSR, 1982), but in the South Atlantic our earlier studies (e.g. Matano et al., JGR, 1993)indicate that the seasonal evolution of the Brazil Current transport -derived from a wind-driven model- closely followed the seasonal signal calculated from altimeter data (see also Vivier and Provost, JGR, 1999). The issue is whether this is the only mechanism. The southernmost extension of the Brazil Current is characterized by a
re-circulation cell that, perhaps, can influence the annual component of the transport. Unfortunately there are no long time series of the Brazil Current transport to really address those matters.