2005/01/01 by Alberto Piola, Ricardo P. Matano, Elbio D. Palma +2 · 2 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Oceanographic and Atmospheric Processes #Tropical and Extratropical Cyclones Research #Ocean Waves and Remote Sensing #Hydrography #Plume #Submarine pipeline #Wind stress #Discharge #Oceanography #Outflow #Geology #Precipitation #Environmental science #Climatology #Meteorology #Geography #Drainage basin
paper · pdf · doi:10.1029/2004gl021638
openalex publication_date 2005/01/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
The influence of the Plata, the second largest river in South America, extends along a coastal strip of 1300 km. Historical hydrographic and wind data and numerical simulations are combined to determine the seasonal and interannual variability of the Plata plume and its relationship to the magnitude of the river discharge and the intensity and direction of the wind stress. Our results indicate that the seasonal variability of the river plume is controlled by the alongshore component of the wind stress. During El Niño the effects of the wind and precipitation anomalies tend to compensate each other, preventing anomalous northeastward plume extensions associated to large outflow events. Numerical experiments confirm this finding and indicate that during El Niño the discharge from the Plata River spreads offshore.