ANALYSIS OF CORRELATIONS BETWEEN METEOROLOGY, HYDRODYNAMICS AND PRIMARY PRODUCTION IN THE SOUTH AND TROPICAL ATLANTIC, THROUGH NUMERICAL MODELING AND REMOTE SENSING

Abstract

Variations of physical parameters in the oceansproduce changes in biological responses, as in chlorophylla. This study has the objective of analyzing the behavior ofthe distribution of chlorophyll at the surface (measured byremote sensing) and comparing it to several meteorologicaland oceanographic parameters (produced by numericalmodeling) in the South and Tropical Atlantic. Thedistribution of chlorophyll concentrations indicate aseasonal pattern, probably related to factors such as coastalupwelling, solar radiation and river discharge. It was foundthat the use of different types of algorithms for computingprimary production results in changes of the linearcorrelations with the meteo-oceanographic parameters;finally, there is a strong correlation between chlorophyll aand temperatures of air and sea, with remarkable latitudinalvariation.Index Terms ⎯ South and Tropical Atlantic Ocean, remotesensing, chlorophyll a, meteo-oceanographic parameters.