Researchers and collaborators of the Laboratory of Ocean and Atmosphere Studies (LOA) of DIOTG/INPE, are happy to disclose to the study community “The effect of the episodes of the Convergence Zone of the Oceanic South Atlantic on regional SST anomalies: the roles of heat fluxes and high-ocean dynamics”. This unprecedented study shows how dynamic and thermodynamic impacts the South Atlantic Convergence Zone (SACZ), an atmospheric system, causes in the ocean. The presence on the surface ocean temperature system of the ocean and consequent modification of the surface ocean temperature system.

The oceanic SACZ is characterized by a persistent band of clouds, with a northwest-southeast orientation, extending from the Amazon to the Southwest Atlantic. Its presence over the ocean causes the sea surface cooling that some previous studies indicate to be produced by an elevation of the solar radiation flux lowered by the extensive cloud cover. In an unprecedented way, we show that the ocean surface currents are modified, weakening the heat transport from north to south that usually occurs in that region, thus causing the surface cooling of the ocean. In addition to solar radiation is blocked by clouds, which is already known by the scientific community.

Therefore, learning how ocean dynamics change by these cases of oceanic SACZ can be important for many scientific and applied climate research areas. For example, the oceanic SACZ region can influence the routes through which they flow into the sea and the dispersion of fish larvae in the region.

The article is available at https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00382-022-06195-3