The impact of the Brazil Current thickening on instability processes (23-30S)

• Grant number: 14/00973-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: May 24, 2014
• End date: November 23, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Oceanography - Physical Oceanography
• Principal Investigator: Ilson Carlos Almeida da SIlveira
• Grantee: Tiago Carrilho Biló
• Supervisor: Glenn R. Flierl
• Host Institution: Instituto Oceanográfico (IO). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 13/10475-6 - Santos Bifurcation Three-dimensional Structure and Dynamical Consequences (23-30S), BP.MS

Abstract

The Brazil Current (BC) is the western boundary current of the South Atlantic Subtropical Gyre. As it flows south/southwestward over the southeast Brazilian continental slope the BC experiences important downstream changes. Between 25S and 27S, the South Equatorial Current bifurcation occurs at intermediate depths (600-1800 m). The so-called Santos Bifurcation separates the BC in two different flow regimes: the nothern part comprises a current which is 500 m thick; the southern part the BC is 1200 m thick. In this work we propose to investigate the impact of downstream changes in the BC intability processes. We aim to address this problem using a linear instability sectional numerical model and top-bottom velocity observations. (AU)