Sea surface temperature variability in the Colombian Basin, Caribbean Sea

Daily sea surface temperature (SST) data from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) database with ∼4 km of spatial resolution were analyzed for the period 1985–2009 in the Colombian Basin using harmonic and empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis. The data were compared with observational records in the Rosario Island National Park at 10 m depth (T10) from March 2003 to August 2005. SST values were higher than T10 from June to October (rainy season), but similar from December to February (dry season); both data sets have similar coefficient of variation. The mean SST distribution varies spatially, with minimum SST values in the coastal zone of La Guajira Peninsula and maximum values in the Darien and Mosquitos Gulfs. The seasonal variability explains up to 75% of the total variability in La Guajira, a high value compared with 40% in the Mosquitos Gulf. The most important feature of the splitting of SST variation into annual and semiannual harmonics in La Guajira is the relationship between their amplitudes. These are of the same order, which is not common in other ocean zones, where the semiannual component is only a small fraction of the annual dominated by the solar warming. The river water discharge, highest from August to November, produces low density surface water, reduces vertical mixing and limits the absorption of solar radiation to a thin surface layer, explaining the discrepancy between SST and T10 in the rainy season. The decomposition of the SST in EOFs indicated that the dominant mode of the basin is a uniform interannual variation in phase with the North Tropical Atlantic Index. The second mode, representing the variability of the Guajira upwelling, covaried strongly with the second mode of wind stress curl. The third mode reflected the role of the vertical atmospheric circulation cell associated with the Caribbean Low Level Jet off Central America.