Subproject 2 (SP 2):Variability of poleward transports in the eastern boundary current of the Southeast Atlantic

SP 2 (Mohrholz/Schmidt, IOW, Warnemünde) investigates the propagation of coastal-trapped waves and southward spreading SACW off Angola and Namibia through field studies and numerical modeling. Results will be related to local and remote wind forcing from scatterometer data (ASCAT).

Goals:

• Supplement the mooring array at 11°S (SP 1) and the GENUS mooring at 23°S with another long-term mooring in the northern Namibia region at 18°S measuring hydrographic data, oxygen and currents. Additional temperature recorders are deployed at the Namibian and Angolan coast at suitable places (Terrace Bay, Namibe) which, in connection with the mooring north of Angola (SP 1), provides time series of transports as well as signal propagation along the coast. Water mass analysis is used to identify entrainment of water from the Angola Gyre into the poleward undercurrent (cruises together with SP 1 and SP 3).
  
  
• Analyze output from the regional numerical circulation model of the GENUS project, with a near resolution of the baroclinic Rossby radius, to study the effect of topography, wind stress and radiative forcing on the accuracy of model results.
  
  
• Identify those processes that are not well represented in climate models and that are responsible for the large temperature bias and reduced variability (in cooperation with SP 1, SP 3, and SP 4)
  
  
• Evaluate the seasonal to decadal variability seen in high-resolution regional model output in comparison to the variability obtained in the climate model (SP 4).