Twelve years of change in coastal upwelling along the central-northern coast of Chile: spatially heterogeneous responses to climatic variability.

ABSTRACT: We use time-series analyses to characterize the effects of recent climate variability upon the local physical conditions at 11 study sites along the northern-central coast of Chile (29-34°S). Environmental indices show that the 1° Bakun upwelling index in this coastal region has fluctuated in time, starting from a stable period around the 1980's, peaking during the mid 90s, decreasing during the next ten years and increasing at a steep rate since 2010. Upwelling intensity decreased with increasing latitude, showing also a negative correlation with climate patterns (El Niño3 sea surface temperature-SST anomalies and the Multivariate El Niño Index). We hypothesize that the impacts of climate variability on upwelling events seem to be spatially heterogeneous along the region. Non-sheltered lo

SUBMITTER: Aravena G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3938675 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature