Abstract
Regions in the Gulf of Mexico are determined based on the statistical behavior of the long-term monthly means of chlorophyll-a concentration from SeaWiFS satellite estimations. An analysis based on the four largest modes of an empirical orthogonal decomposition, which account for 84.9% of the variance, results in nine spatial patterns with different statistical behavior representing 14 connected regions. The time evolution (or principal component) of the first two modes resemble the annual cycle, but each one with a different phase; the third mode represents a semiannual period and the fourth mode shows three maxima and minima. A map of the resulting regions is obtained and the oceanographic processes taking place in each region are discussed. The largest region covers most of the deep Gulf and the continental slope. Other regions in the deep Gulf are located southeast of the Mississippi River mouth and off-shelf of southern Texas and Tabasco, all associated with seasonal offshore cross-shelf transports. The shelves are associated with specific regions, but in wide shelves the inner and outer continental platforms are separated. Among the causes that determine different regions are topographic characteristics and the seasonal variability of physical processes, mainly entrainment caused by heat and momentum fluxes, upwelling, river plumes, and cross-shelf transports associated with the convergence of the along-coast currents.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Cochrane JD (1968) Currents and waters of the eastern Gulf of Mexico and western Caribbean, of the western tropical Atlantic Ocean, and of the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. Department of Oceanography and Meteorology, Texas A&M University. Technical Report, Ref. 75-8-T. pp. 19–28
Cochrane JD (1969). Water and Circulation on Campeche Bank in May. Bull Jpn Soc Fish Oceanogr Spec No (Prof. Uda's Commemorative Papers). pp. 123–128
Cochrane JD, Kelly FJ (1986) Low-frequency circulation on the Texas–Louisiana continental shelf. J Geophys Res 91:10645–10659
CONABIO, The Nature Conservancy, CONAMP, and PRONATURA (2005) Taller para la determinación de sitios prioritarios oceánicos y costeros para la conservación. Memoria metodológica
Couch C, Hopkins EH, Hardy S (1996) Influences of environmental settings on aquatic ecosystems in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin. U.S. Geological Survey. National Water-Quality Assessment Program. Water-Resources Investigations Report 95-4278
Vázquez de la Cerda AM, Reid RO, DiMarco SF, and Jochens AE (2005) Bay of campeche circulation: an update. In: Sturges W, Lugo-Fernández A (eds) Circulation in the Gulf of Mexico: observations and models. Geophysical Monograph Series 161, AGU, doi:10.1029/161GM20. pp. 279–293
Emery WJ, Thomson RE (2001) Data analysis methods in physical oceanography, 2nd edn. Elsevier, New York, p 638
Gilbes F, Tomas C, Walsh JJ, Müller-Karger FE (1996) An episodic chlorophyll plume on the West Florida Shelf. Cont Shelf Res 16:1201–1207. doi:10.1016/0278-4343(95)00065-8
INE (2007) Ordenamiento ecológico marino. Visión temática de la regionalización. In: Córdova y Vázquez A, Rosete F, Enríquez G, Fernández B (eds). Instituto Nacional de Ecología, Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, ISBN 968-817-807-1
Kelly M (1994) Florida river flow patterns and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation. Draft Report. Ecologic Evaluation Section. Southwest Florida Water Management District, West Palm Beach
Martínez-López B, Zavala-Hidalgo J (2009) Seasonal and interannual variability of cross-shelf transports of chlorophyll in the Gulf of Mexico. J Mar Syst 77:1–20
Mateos-Jasso A (2009) Estudio sobre la estacionalidad de la surgencia de Yucatán. M.Sc. thesis, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. pp. 102
Melo N, Müller-Karger FE, Cerdeira S, Pérez de los Reyes R, Victoria I, Cárdenas P, Mitrani I (2000) Near-surface phytoplankton distribution in the western Intra-Americas Sea: the influence of El Niño and weather events. J Geophys Res 105:14029–14043
Merino M (1997) Upwelling on the Yucatan shelf: hydrographic evidence. J Mar Syst 13:101–121
Morey SL, Schroeder W, O’Brien JJ, Zavala-Hidalgo J (2003a) The annual cycle of riverine influence in the eastern Gulf of Mexico basin. Geophys Res Lett 30:1867. doi:10.1029/2003GL017348
Morey SL, O’Brien JJ, Walcraft AA, Zavala-Hidalgo J (2003b) Export pathways for river discharge fresh water in the northern Gulf of Mexico. J Geophys Res 108:3303. doi:10.1029/2002JC001674
Morey SL, Zavala-Hidalgo J, O’Brien JJ (2005) The seasonal variability of continental shelf circulation in the northern and western Gulf of Mexico from a high-resolution numerical model. In: Sturges W, Lugo-Fernández A (eds) New developments in the circulation of the Gulf of Mexico. Geophysical Monograph Series 161, AGU, doi:10.1029/161GM01
Morey SL, Dukhovskoy DS, Bourassa MA (2009) Connectivity of the Apalachicola River flow variability and the physical and bio-optical oceanic properties of the northern West Florida Shelf. Cont Shelf Res. doi:10.1016/j.csr.2009.02.003
Müller-Karger FE, Walsh JJ, Evans RH, Meyers MB (1991) On the seasonal phytoplankton concentration and sea surface temperature cycles of the Gulf of Mexico as determined by satellites. J Geophys Res 96:12645–12665
Nowlin WD, Jochens AE, Howard MK, DiMarco SF, Schroeder WW (2000) Hydrographic properties and inferred circulation over the northeast shelves of the Gulf of Mexico during spring to midsummer of 1998. Gulf Mex Sci 18:40–54
Ruiz RF (1979) Upwelling north of the Yucatán Peninsula. M.Sc. thesis, Texas A&M University
Ruoying H, Weisberg RH (2002) West Florida shelf circulation and temperature budget for the 1999 spring transition. Cont Shelf Res 22:719–748
Sturges W, Evans JC, Wesch S, Holland W (1993) Separation of warm-core rings in the Gulf of Mexico. J Phys Oceanogr 23:250–268
NOAA Technical Memorandum (2004) NOAA Fisheries Service's Large Marine Ecosystems Program: Status Report, NMFS-NE-183
Venegas SA (2001) Statistical methods for signal detection in climate, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, DCESS Rep #2. pp. 96
Walker ND (2005) Wind and eddy-related shelf/slope circulation processes and coastal upwelling in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico. In: Sturges W and Lugo-Fernandez (eds) Circulation of the Gulf of Mexico. Geophysical Monograph Series 161. AGU, doi:10.1029/161GM20. pp. 295–314
Weisberg RH, Li Z, Muller-Karger F (2001) West Florida shelf response to local wind forcing: April 1998. J Geophys Res 106:31,239–31,262
Weisberg RH, He R, Liu Y, Virmani JI (2005) West Florida shelf circulation on synoptic, seasonal and inter-annual time scales. In: Sturges W, Lugo-Fernández A (eds) Circulation in the Gulf of Mexico: observations and models, geophysical monograph series 161, AGU, doi:10.1029/161GM23. pp. 325–347
Wilks DS (2006) Statistical methods in the atmospheric sciences, 2nd edn. Academic, New York, p 627
Wiseman WJ Jr, Sturges W (1999) Physical Oceanography of the Gulf of Mexico: Processes that regulate its biology. In: Kump H, Steidinger K, Sherman K (eds) The Gulf of Mexico large marine ecosystem. Assessment, sustainability, and management. Blackwell, New York, p 704
Yáñez-Arancibia A, Day JW (2004) Environmental sub-regions in the Gulf of Mexico coastal zone: the ecosystem approach as an integrated management tool. Ocean Coast Manage 47:727–757
Zavala-Hidalgo J, Fernández-Eguiarte A (2007) Propuesta para la regionalización de los mares mexicanos desde el punto de vista de los procesos físicos: el caso del Golfo de México. In: Ordenamiento ecológico marino. Visión temática de la regionalización. In: Córdova y Vázquez A, Rosete F, Enríquez G, Fernández B (eds), Instituto Nacional de Ecología, Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, ISBN:968-817-807-1
Zavala-Hidalgo J, Parés-Sierra A, Ochoa J (2002) Seasonal variability of the temperature and heat fluxes in the Gulf of Mexico. Atmósfera 15:81–104
Zavala-Hidalgo J, Morey SL, O’Brien JJ (2003) Seasonal circulation on the western shelf of the Gulf of Mexico using a high-resolution numerical model. J Geophys Res 108(C12):3389. doi:10.1029/2003JC001879
Zavala-Hidalgo J, Gallegos-García A, Martínez-López B, Morey SL, O’Brien JJ (2006) Seasonal upwelling on the western and southern shelves of the Gulf of Mexico. Ocean Dynamics. doi:10.1007/s10236-006-0072-3
Acknowledgments
This work was partially funded by the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México normal funding and by a grant from PAPIIT 120408-3 project. The authors would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions and comments, and the SeaWiFS Project and the Distributed Active Archive Center (Code 902) at the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, for the production and distribution of the data. Ranulfo Rodríguez-Sobreyra and María Elena Osorio-Tai helped in the elaboration of the figures.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Responsible Editor: Joachim W. Dippner
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Salmerón-García, O., Zavala-Hidalgo, J., Mateos-Jasso, A. et al. Regionalization of the Gulf of Mexico from space-time chlorophyll-a concentration variability. Ocean Dynamics 61, 439–448 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10236-010-0368-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10236-010-0368-1