Punctual Thermal Study of the Water Column on the Continental Shelf in the North Part of Yucatan

Abstract

Three time series (March 11-21, May 19-June 5, and September 23-october 5) gathered in 1988 between Alacran Reef and Puerto Progreso, in the Yucatan peninsula, Mexico (22° 11’N y 89° 41’W) were used to elucidate the thermal assay of the water column carried out. The temperatures are measured every 3 h, in five levels (surface, 10, 20, 30 and 40 m depth). The surface heating velocities were - 0.12, 0.07 and 0.03°C d-1, respectively for each sampling period. During the first series a typical winter profile was observed, without a marked thermocline. The thicknesses of the mixed layers were determined from the temperature profiles; these were 40, 29 and 27 m, respectively. During the second and third sampling periods a thinning of the mixed layer was observed. The results of the heat storage computated through a parameterization of the mixed layer, underlayer and thermocline are presented and compared. The heat storage for each time series was -260, 48.5 and -3 W m-2, respectively. Comparison of results with sea surface climatic patterns showed good agreement, not so the heating speed, whose differences were probably due to severe meteorological processes and to spatial- temporal scales of the results.