Seasonal changes in the tropical Atlantic circulation: observation and simulation of the Guinea Dome
Open accessAbstract
The Guinea Dome is a permanent, quasi‐stationary feature on the eastern side of the thermal ridge extending zonally across the tropical North Atlantic. The dome is a part of the large‐scale near‐surface flow fields associated with the North Equatorial Current, the North Equatorial Countercurrent and the North Equatorial Undercurrent. In the present study, historical and recently obtained hydrographic data are combined to investigate the thermohaline structure and geostrophic flow field in the vicinity of the dome. It is shown that the Guinea Dome exists throughout the year both in subthermocline and thermocline layers, that it has a corresponding cyclonic geostrophic flow, and that seasonal changes occur with respect to its vertical structure, horizontal extent, and position. The observational results are then compared with simulations from a general circulation model of the tropical Atlantic. A seven‐year simulation forced by observed monthly winds is run to compute a monthly climatology. The model adequately simulates the Guinea Dome with respect to its structure, flow field, and seasonal variability.
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The tropical upwelling system forces a cyclonic gyre circulation, the Guinea Gyre, of which the Guinea Dome and coastal West-African upwellings form the most eastern features.
“Considered from a basin-scale perspective, this system forces a cyclonic gyre circulation, the Guinea Gyre [e.g., 6], of which the Guinea Dome and the coastal West-African upwellings form the most eastern features [4,7].”
From A model study of the seasonality of sea surface temperature and circulation in the Atlantic North-eastern Tropical Upwelling System (2015) · cites this paper as [4]
Trade winds and the ITCZ generate large-scale divergent Ekman transports that force a northern hemisphere tropical upwelling system extending from Morocco to the Guinea Gulf.
“Trade winds and the ITCZ generate large scale divergent Ekman transports, which force in the northern hemisphere a tropical upwelling system that continuously extends from Morocco to the mouth of the Guinea Gulf, and from the African coasts to mid and west Atlantic, depending on season [4,5].”
From A model study of the seasonality of sea surface temperature and circulation in the Atlantic North-eastern Tropical Upwelling System (2015) · cites this paper as [4]
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Oxygen minimum zones in the eastern tropical Atlantic and Pacific oceans
Karstensen, J., Stramma, L., & Visbeck, M. (2008) · Progress in Oceanography · doi:10.1016/j.pocean.2007.05.009 · Cited by 666 · see citing works
The Mean Flow Field of the Tropical Atlantic Ocean
Stramma, L., & Schott, F. (1999) · Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography · doi:10.1016/s0967-0645(98)00109-x · Cited by 408 · see citing works
Faye, S., Lazar, A., Sow, B. A., & Gaye, A. T. (2015) · Frontiers in Physics · doi:10.3389/fphy.2015.00076 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
“Trade winds and the ITCZ generate large scale divergent Ekman transports, which force in the northern hemisphere a tropical upwelling system that continuously extends from Morocco to the mouth of the Guinea Gulf, and from the African coasts to mid and west Atlantic, depending on season [4, 5].”
Background
- Authors
- Siedler, G., Zangenberg, N., Onken, R., & Morlière, A.
- Affiliations
- Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (DE)
- Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie (FR)
- Venue
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans
- Publisher
- American Geophysical Union (AGU)
- Published
- 1992-01-15
- Volume
- 97
- Issue
- C1
- Pages
- 703-715
- ISSN
- 0148-0227 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2102287034
- Cited by
- 146
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 3.41
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- oceanrep.geomar.de
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres (publishedVersion)
- Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR) (acceptedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Oceanography › Oceanographic and Atmospheric Processes
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Climate variability and models
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Meteorological Phenomena and Simulations
- Keywords
- seasonal variation, thermohaline structure, geostrophic currents, North Equatorial Current, North Equatorial Countercurrent, cyclonic flow, general circulation model simulations, North Atlantic
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