Atmospheric modes influence on Iberian Poleward Current variability

The inter-annual variability of the Iberian Poleward Current (IPC) along the northwestern coast of the Iberian Peninsula (IP) (40–43°N) and its intrusion in the Cantabrian Sea (Navidad, 6–8°W) were analyzed in terms of the atmospheric forcing. The January Sea Surface Temperature (J SST) was obtained from the advanced very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR) NOAA satellite from 1985 to 2006. It is a well documented fact that the existence of a tongue of water warmer than the surrounding ones (IPC) which circulates along the western Iberian shelf edge, turn eastward around Cape Finisterre, and enters in the Cantabrian Sea generating Navidad at the beginning of every winter. However, in the present study it has been highlighted that there are several years (1986, 1987, 1992, 1997, 1999, 2004 and 2005) during which water from coast to the adjacent shelf is much colder than the oceanic one remarking a weak or inexistent IPC during these Januaries. In addition, the dependence of SST on the most representative regional patterns with some influence upon the eastern North Atlantic region was analyzed by means of correlations between November–December atmospheric modes and J SST. The considered modes were: North Atlantic Oscillation pattern (NAO), Eastern Atlantic pattern (EA), Eastern Atlantic Western Russia pattern (EA/WR), Polar/Eurasia pattern (POL) and Scandinavia pattern (SCA). This analysis reveals that two atmospheric patterns (N-D NAO and N-D EA/WR) are responsible of the main variability of the J SST of the western and northern IP. J SST is negatively correlated with N-D NAO and positively correlated with N-D EA/WR. Multivariate analysis involving both modes provides correlation coefficients on the order of 0.7 on both coasts (western and northern). The influence of both modes on J SST was observed to be on the same order of magnitude but with different sign. These correlations were physically interpreted by means of an analysis of extreme events and Sea Level Pressure (SLP) composite analysis.