The Texas-Louisiana Shelf Circulation and Transport Study featured moorings that covered the shelf during 1992 to 1994, and captured the oceanic response on the shelf to category 4 Hurricane Andrew in August of 1992. Eighty-one current meters distributed over 31 moorings along several contours of isobaths provided excellent spatial and temporal coverage over the shelf. The low-frequency variability (2 days and longer) of current observations and tide gauges to the West of the storm are analyzed after the passage of Andrew, focusing on the region outside of direct hurricane forcing. Wavelet analyses are utilized to investigate the dominant periods excited by the storm over the shelf and their temporal evolution after forcing has subsided. Subsequent to the storm's passage, the observations and wavelet transforms show a two-to-four day period coastal trapped wave that propagate westward at speeds near 6 m/s and then around the Texas bend along the bathymetry. The signal remains detectable in observations as far south as Port Isabel, Texas. The prominent frequencies determined from wavelet analysis are compared with predicted coastal trapped wave dispersion modes and show good agreement in the predicted group speed and cross-shelf structure of the first mode. The energies calculated from the data indicate a largely barotropic shelf wave response which is corroborated in the observed currents and by theory.

Ao largo da costa oeste da Am´erica do Sul o sistema de ressurg^encia costeira apresenta uma excepcional produtividade, um resultado da alta efici^encia do ecossistema biol´ogico em converter a produ¸c~ao prim´aria em biomassa. Esses processos qu´?micobiol ´ogicos s~ao fortemente modulados pelo ambiente f´?sico da regi~ao. Por exemplo, durante eventos do El-Ni~no a produtividade pesqueira ´e fortemente prejudicada em resposta a uma inibi¸c~ao da ressurg^encia costeira. Apesar disso ser um fato j´a bastante conhecido desde ´epocas pr´e-colombianas, muita d´uvida ainda persiste sobre o mecanismo pelo qual o sistema costeiro ´e afetado por esses fen^omenos de grande escala. O presente trabalho foi realizado com o objetivo de se contribuir com esse conhecimento, estudando como ocorreram as mudan¸cas do sistema durante recentes eventos El Ni~no, principalmente na escala intrasazonal. Nessa investiga¸c~ao foram utilizadas diferentes metodologias de an´alise de dados para identificar a natureza dos for¸cantes de oscila¸c~oes significativas observadas durante o El Ni~no 1997-1998. Tamb´em foi investigado se essas oscila¸c~oes foram for¸cadas remotamente e se propagaram como ondas aprisionadas na costa; quais foram suas propriedades espaciais e sua propaga¸c~ao longo da costa. A primeira parte do trabalho consiste na an´alise da variabilidade temporal e a caracteriza¸c~ao das flutua¸c~oes de baixa freq¨u^encia ocorridas durante eventos El Ni~no. Essa an´alise faz uso do espectro de ondeleta aplicado a s´eries temporais longas de dados do n´?vel do mar de esta¸c~oes costeiras distribu´?das ao longo da costa sul do Equador, costa do Peru e costa norte do Chile. O espectro de ondeleta cruzada e o espectro da coer^encia foram usados para avaliar a import^ancia relativa das for¸cantes remota e local das varia¸c~oes do n´?vel do mar associadas com os efeitos do El Ni~no 1997-1998. Na segunda parte, as flutua¸c~oes for¸cadas remotamente foram comparadas com modelos lineares simples e o modelo de Brink e Chapman (1987) para se obter as propriedades das ondas aprisionadas na costa durante o El Ni~no Extraordin ´ario (1997-1998). Uma importante conclus~ao dessas an´alises foi a constata¸c~ao de que variabilidades intrasazonais ao largo da costa do Peru durante esse El Ni~no foi, em parte significativa, o resultado da atua¸c~ao de for¸cantes remotas e locais, associadas com ondas equatoriais incidindo na Costa Oeste da Am´erica do Sul e com o efeito do vento, respectivamente. / Off the western coast of South America, the coastal upwelling system presents an exceptional productivity, a result of the high efficiency of the biological ecosystem in converting the primary production into biomass. These chemical and biological processes are strongly modulated by the physical environment. For instance, during El Ni~no events the fishery productivity is strongly impaired in response to an inhibition of the coastal upwelling. In spite of this fact be widely known since pre-Colombian times, much doubts still persist about the mechanism by means of which the coastal system is affected by the large scale phenomena. The present work was idealized with the intention of contributing for this knowledge, studying how occurred the changes in the system during recent El Ni~no events, with emphasis on the intraseasonal scale. In this investigation, different methodologies of data analysis were used to identify the nature of the forcing which produced significant oscillations observed during the El Ni~no 1997-1998. Also, it was investigated if these oscillations were remotely forced and propagated along the coast as coastal trapped waves; what were their spatial and propagation properties. The first part of the work consists of an analysis of the temporal variability and the characterization of the low-frequency fluctuations occurred during the El Ni~no events. This analysis uses the wavelet spectrum applied to time series of sea level data collected off southern Equador, Peru and northern Chile. The cross wavelet spectrum and coherence spectrum were used to evaluate the relative importance of local and remote forcing of the sea level, associated with effects of the 1997-1998 El Ni~no. In the second part, the fluctuations remotely forced wer compared with results of simple linear models and with the model of Brink and Chapman (1987), in order to obtain the coastal trapped waves properties during that extraordinary El Ni~no event. One important conclusion of these analyses was the confirmation that the intraseasonal variability observed offo Peru during the 1997-1998 El Ni~no was, in part, the result of remote and local forcing, associated with equatorial waves and the wind effect, respectively.

Ao largo da costa oeste da Am´erica do Sul o sistema de ressurg^encia costeira apresenta uma excepcional produtividade, um resultado da alta efici^encia do ecossistema biol´ogico em converter a produ¸c~ao prim´aria em biomassa. Esses processos qu´?micobiol ´ogicos s~ao fortemente modulados pelo ambiente f´?sico da regi~ao. Por exemplo, durante eventos do El-Ni~no a produtividade pesqueira ´e fortemente prejudicada em resposta a uma inibi¸c~ao da ressurg^encia costeira. Apesar disso ser um fato j´a bastante conhecido desde ´epocas pr´e-colombianas, muita d´uvida ainda persiste sobre o mecanismo pelo qual o sistema costeiro ´e afetado por esses fen^omenos de grande escala. O presente trabalho foi realizado com o objetivo de se contribuir com esse conhecimento, estudando como ocorreram as mudan¸cas do sistema durante recentes eventos El Ni~no, principalmente na escala intrasazonal. Nessa investiga¸c~ao foram utilizadas diferentes metodologias de an´alise de dados para identificar a natureza dos for¸cantes de oscila¸c~oes significativas observadas durante o El Ni~no 1997-1998. Tamb´em foi investigado se essas oscila¸c~oes foram for¸cadas remotamente e se propagaram como ondas aprisionadas na costa; quais foram suas propriedades espaciais e sua propaga¸c~ao longo da costa. A primeira parte do trabalho consiste na an´alise da variabilidade temporal e a caracteriza¸c~ao das flutua¸c~oes de baixa freq¨u^encia ocorridas durante eventos El Ni~no. Essa an´alise faz uso do espectro de ondeleta aplicado a s´eries temporais longas de dados do n´?vel do mar de esta¸c~oes costeiras distribu´?das ao longo da costa sul do Equador, costa do Peru e costa norte do Chile. O espectro de ondeleta cruzada e o espectro da coer^encia foram usados para avaliar a import^ancia relativa das for¸cantes remota e local das varia¸c~oes do n´?vel do mar associadas com os efeitos do El Ni~no 1997-1998. Na segunda parte, as flutua¸c~oes for¸cadas remotamente foram comparadas com modelos lineares simples e o modelo de Brink e Chapman (1987) para se obter as propriedades das ondas aprisionadas na costa durante o El Ni~no Extraordin ´ario (1997-1998). Uma importante conclus~ao dessas an´alises foi a constata¸c~ao de que variabilidades intrasazonais ao largo da costa do Peru durante esse El Ni~no foi, em parte significativa, o resultado da atua¸c~ao de for¸cantes remotas e locais, associadas com ondas equatoriais incidindo na Costa Oeste da Am´erica do Sul e com o efeito do vento, respectivamente. / Off the western coast of South America, the coastal upwelling system presents an exceptional productivity, a result of the high efficiency of the biological ecosystem in converting the primary production into biomass. These chemical and biological processes are strongly modulated by the physical environment. For instance, during El Ni~no events the fishery productivity is strongly impaired in response to an inhibition of the coastal upwelling. In spite of this fact be widely known since pre-Colombian times, much doubts still persist about the mechanism by means of which the coastal system is affected by the large scale phenomena. The present work was idealized with the intention of contributing for this knowledge, studying how occurred the changes in the system during recent El Ni~no events, with emphasis on the intraseasonal scale. In this investigation, different methodologies of data analysis were used to identify the nature of the forcing which produced significant oscillations observed during the El Ni~no 1997-1998. Also, it was investigated if these oscillations were remotely forced and propagated along the coast as coastal trapped waves; what were their spatial and propagation properties. The first part of the work consists of an analysis of the temporal variability and the characterization of the low-frequency fluctuations occurred during the El Ni~no events. This analysis uses the wavelet spectrum applied to time series of sea level data collected off southern Equador, Peru and northern Chile. The cross wavelet spectrum and coherence spectrum were used to evaluate the relative importance of local and remote forcing of the sea level, associated with effects of the 1997-1998 El Ni~no. In the second part, the fluctuations remotely forced wer compared with results of simple linear models and with the model of Brink and Chapman (1987), in order to obtain the coastal trapped waves properties during that extraordinary El Ni~no event. One important conclusion of these analyses was the confirmation that the intraseasonal variability observed offo Peru during the 1997-1998 El Ni~no was, in part, the result of remote and local forcing, associated with equatorial waves and the wind effect, respectively.