Resumen del producto

Vertical structure of currents was examined at different locations along the shelf of the southern Baja California peninsula using Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP) deployed during the period 2007–2011. Rotary spectral analysis, harmonic analysis and a rotary multiple filter Wavelet-type technique were applied to investigate temporal variations in currents and local winds. Diurnal variability of currents at all locations was generated by two dominant mechanisms: sea-breeze and gravitational (tidal) forcing. In the Bay of La Paz the first mechanism was responsible for the generation of surface-intensified counterclockwise (CCW) rotary diurnal and semidiurnal currents in the upper mixed layer while the second was responsible for the relatively weak quasi-barotropic clockwise (CW) rotary tidal currents observed throughout the remainder of the water column. Diurnal currents were comprised of three major tidal gravitational constituents (K1, O1 and P1), and one strong radiational CCW constituent S1 in the upper 30 m layer that was coherent with the CCW local sea-breeze. A significant semidiurnal S2 constituent was also highly coherent with the wind. In contrast to the cross-bay orientation prevalent in tidal ellipses of other constituents, tidal ellipses for the S1 and S2 bands were oriented normal to the entrance of the bay. Coherent (“deterministic”) tidal currents account for roughly 65% (59% for S1) of the total diurnal kinetic energy in the surface layer, while incoherent tidal motions account for 18% and background noise for 17% of the kinetic energy. Below 30 m depth, the corresponding estimates are 40%, 32% and 28%, respectively.

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