Atlantic Basin (atlantic + basin)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


The Gulf Stream and Atlantic sea-surface temperatures in AD1790,1825

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY, Issue 12 2010
G. van der Schrier
Abstract We present gridded sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) for the Atlantic basin (45°S,60°N) as averages over the period AD1790,1825, based on early-instrumental SST data. The original measurements were compiled by Major James Rennell and made by numerous British naval vessels on behalf of the British Admiralty. We describe the digitization of this dataset and the reconstruction of spatially coherent, averaged conditions for the boreal cold (November-March) and warm (May,September) season using a reduced space optimal interpolation (RSOI) technique, in which the data is projected on a limited number of empirical orthogonal functions. This approach is validated on modern data that are sampled in a similar way as the early-instrumental data. The reconstruction for the November,March period shows a large area with anomalously high temperatures from the point where the Gulf Stream separates from the coast until ca. 20°W. A tongue of anomalous cool water is found at the eastern side of the North Atlantic basin, along the coast of Europe and northern Africa. In the northeastern South Atlantic, anomalously high temperatures are found, while temperatures in the southwestern South Atlantic are anomalously cool. For the March,September season, anomalous temperatures in the South Atlantic are similar, but stronger, compared with those in the boreal cold season. Over the North Atlantic, there is not much similarity between the current SST reconstructions and those published in the late 1950s. Copyright © 2009 Royal Meteorological Society [source]


Phylogeography of the common goby, Pomatoschistus microps, with particular emphasis on the colonization of the Mediterranean and the North Sea

MOLECULAR ECOLOGY, Issue 2 2004
E. S. Gysels
Abstract The phylogeographical patterns of a small marine fish, the common goby, Pomatoschistus microps, were assessed at 12 sites along the northeastern Atlantic coasts and the western Mediterranean Sea. A combination of two genetic markers was employed: cellulose acetate allozyme electrophoresis (CAGE) and sequence analysis of a 289 bp fragment of the mitochondrial locus cytochrome b. Both markers were congruent in revealing significant differences between samples (global FST = 0.247 for the allozymes and ,ST = 0.437 for the mitochondrial DNA data) and a pattern of isolation-by-distance. Phylogeographical analyses yielded a shallow branching structure with four groups. Three of those were confined to the Atlantic basin and showed a star-like pattern. The fourth group contained a central haplotype occurring at the edges of the species' distribution, accompanied by a few more rare variants, which were restricted to the Mediterranean Sea. A genetic break was observed around the British Isles, with distinct haplotypes dominating at either side of the English Channel. A significantly negative correlation between the degree of genetic diversity and latitude was recorded both for mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and allozymes in the Atlantic basin. Gene flow analysis suggested that recolonization of the North Sea and the coasts of western Scotland and Ireland may have taken place from a glacial refugium in the Southern Bight of the North Sea. These results are discussed in the perspective of possible postglacial migration routes of marine fish along the northeastern Atlantic coasts. [source]


A self-sustaining climate mode in the tropical atlantic, 1995,97: Observations and modelling

THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY, Issue 564 2000
Itsuki C. Handoh
Abstract An anomalous climatic event in the tropical Atlantic, starting in autumn 1995 and continuing into the autumn of 1997, is investigated. Using remotely sensed datasets and a reduced-gravity model, it is shown that this event contained both a warm and a cold phase, each of roughly 12 months duration. The propagating signal within each phase is identified in the sea surface height and temperature signatures as both equatorial and off-equatorial waves in the ocean, with coupling to atmospheric convection. The strength, geographical pattern and timing of the anomalous period is consistent with it being the first observed example of a coupled mode of interaction between the ocean and atmosphere found in two previous coupled ocean-atmosphere models of the tropics. This interpretation means that the two-phased climate event, which we will call the Equatorial Atlantic Oscillation (EAO), was associated with purely internal atmospheric and oceanographic variability within the Atlantic basin and hence was independent of the Pacific climate. It can also be inferred, from long-term monthly sea surface temperature and sea-level pressure datasets, that there were potentially several previous EAO events during the past century. [source]


Low-frequency climate variability in the Atlantic basin during the 20th century

ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE LETTERS, Issue 3 2010
Y. M. Tourre
Abstract From joint sea surface temperature/sea level pressure (SST/SLP) EOF analyses, low-frequency variability modes are compared. The multi-decadal oscillation (MDO) changed phases twice during the 20th century, with its north Atlantic SST patterns resembling the Atlantic multi-decadal oscillation (AMO). The quasi-decadal oscillation (QDO) SST patterns displayed a double tripole configuration over the entire Atlantic basin, leading to tropical inter-hemispheric out-of-phase relationship. From the mid-1960s onward, while SST anomalies were negative to the north (negative phases of MDO/AMO), the Sahelian drought persisted with a weaker hurricane power dissipation index (PDI). During that period, the QDO modulated the intensity of the Sahelian drought. Copyright © 2010 Royal Meteorological Society [source]


Northern and Southern expansions of Atlantic brown trout (Salmo trutta) populations during the Pleistocene

BIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY, Issue 4 2009
MARTÍ CORTEY
The phylogeography of Atlantic brown trout (Salmo trutta) was analysed using mitochondrial DNA control region complete sequences of 774 individuals from 57 locations. Additionally, the available haplotype information from 100 published populations was incorporated in the analysis. Combined information from nested clade analysis, haplotype trees, mismatch distributions, and coalescent simulations was used to characterize population groups in the Atlantic basin. A major clade involved haplotypes assigned to the Atlantic (AT) lineage, but another major clade should be considered as a distinct endemic lineage restricted to the Iberian Peninsula. The phylogeography of the Atlantic populations showed the mixed distribution of several Atlantic clades in glaciated areas of Northern Europe, whereas diverged haplotypes dominated the coastal Iberian rivers. Populations inhabiting the Atlantic rivers of southern France apparently contributed to postglacial colonization of northern basins, but also comprised the source of southern expansions during the Pleistocene. © 2009 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2009, 97, 904,917. [source]