Antonio Martinez-Marrero

• PhD
• Senior Lecturer at University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

High-resolution observations of an intrathermocline eddy were conducted in November 2022 within the Canary Eddy Corridor. Formed in early summer 2022, this mature mesoscale eddy exhibited a 550 m vertical extent, with its core centered at 110 m depth, and a segmented horizontal structure with a 25 km inner core radius surrounded by a 55 km-wide out...

Mesoscale eddies influence the distribution of diazotrophic (nitrogen-fixing) cyanobacteria, impacting marine productivity and carbon export. Non-cyanobacterial diazotrophs (NCDs) are emerging as potential contributors to marine nitrogen fixation, relying on organic matter particles for resources, impacting nitrogen and carbon cycling. However, the...

Mesoscale eddies influence the distribution of diazotroph (nitrogen fixing) cyanobacteria, impacting marine primary productivity and carbon export. Recently, non-cyanobacterial diazotrophs (NCDs) have emerged as potentially important contributors to the marine nitrogen fixation. Lacking a photosynthetic apparatus, NCDs are thought to rely on organi...

For the first time, four dedicated hydrographic cruises—one in each season—took place in 2015 around the Canary Islands to determine the seasonality of the flows at the eastern boundary of the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre. The Canary Current (CC) is the eastern boundary current of the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre and links the Azores Current...

Distributions of dissolved (DOM) and suspended (POM) organic matter, and their chromophoric (CDOM) and fluorescent (FDOM) fractions, are investigated at high resolution (< 10 km) in the Cape Verde Frontal Zone (CVFZ) during fall 2017. In the epipelagic layer (< 200 m), meso- and submesoscale structures (meanders, eddies) captured by the high resolu...

Cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies are common mesoscale features in the flow past the Canary Islands throughout the year. While drifting southward, eddy pairs interact among them but also with upwelling filaments and eddies generated at the coastal jet of the nearby African upwelling system. These interactions force the generation of frontal zones wh...

The circulation patterns and the impact of the lateral export of nutrients and organic matter off NW Africa are examined by applying an inverse model to two hydrographic datasets gathered in fall 2002 and spring 2003. These estimates show significant changes in the circulation patterns at central levels from fall to spring, particularly in the sout...

Observational evidence demonstrates the signature of near‐inertial wave (NIW) trapping by a long‐lived westward propagating mesoscale anticyclonic eddy under normal atmospheric conditions. Cross‐eddy sections of density and shipboard acoustic Doppler current profiler data show the downward (upward phase) propagation of NIW packets with vertical wav...

The Coastal-Ocean Carbon Exchange in the Canary Region Project (COCA) arises in order to analyse and get to understand the impact of lateral export of nutrients and organic matter from the highly productive Coastal Upwelling System off NW Africa in the biogeochemical cycles during two different seasons. The circulation patterns off NW African Upwel...

A South Atlantic ring is studied through remote sensing altimetry, hydrographic stations, and drifters' trajectories. The ring's core was characterized by warmer and saltier Indian Ocean waters. At the time of the cruise, the ring's signature extended radially out to 124 km and vertically down to 2000 m, and its core absolute dynamic topography (AD...

Vertical motions play a key role in the enhancement of primary production within mesoscale eddies through the introduction of nutrients into the euphotic layer. However, the details of the vertical velocity field w driving these enhancements remain under discussion. For the first time the mesoscale w associated with an intrathermocline eddy is comp...

An interdisciplinary survey of a subtropical intrathermocline eddy was conducted within the Canary Eddy Corridor in September 2014. The anatomy of the eddy is investigated using near submesoscale fine resolution two-dimensional data and coarser resolution three-dimensional data. The eddy was four months old, with a vertical extension of 500 m and 4...

Hydrographic data, SSH from altimetry, thermosalinograph and drifters measurements were acquired along an Agulhas ring during March 2010. Hydrographic survey and drifters deployment were done 5 months after the ring formation. The ring is clearly visible from altimetry and salinity from thermosalinograph data since the surface properties in the cor...

CTD and LADCP data measured in October 2014 are used to describe water masses, geostrophic circulation and mass transport in the Eastern Boundary of the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre. Initial geostrophic velocities are adjusted to velocities from the LADCP data to estimate an initial velocity at the reference layer. Final reference velocities and...

An anticyclonic eddy four months old detached from Tenerife Island (Canary Islands) was tracked during a survey carried out south the Canary Islands on September 2014, inside the Canary Eddy Corridor region (CEC). Eight drifting buoys were deployed along the eddy radius. They were drogued at 15 m and 100 m depth. Two boys remained inside the eddy a...

A typical anticyclonic eddy of the Canary Eddy Corridor, located 300 nautical miles southwest of the Canary Islands, was interdisciplinary surveyed on September 2014 in the framework of the PUMP project (ref: CTM2012-33355). This project aims to investigate the modulation of the biogeochemical fluxes by the ageostrophic secondary circulation (SAC)...

Del 18 al 29 de octubre de 2010 se llevó a cabo la campaña oceanográfica PROMECA en la parte occidental de la Cuenca Canaria con en el buque oceanográfico García del Cid, figura 1. Uno de los objetivos principales del proyecto se centra en el estudio del sistema de afloramiento noroccidental africano en la región de Cabo Ghir. En dicha región se re...

Observations of surface drifters launched over the continental slope of Portugal (Bay of Setúbal) are analyzed with the Rotary Wavelet Spectrum Method to study the contribution of mesoscale activity to near-inertial variability. Drifter data used here are part of the MREA04 (Maritime Rapid Environmental Assessment 2004) sea trial carried out by the...

High spatial resolution hydrographic data, including Lowered Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (LADCP) measurements, were acquired along a meridional section at 24.5W in October 2009. The data are analyzed in detail with the purpose of definitively defining and quantifying the zonal Azores Current System. The Azores Current and Azores Countercurren...

This work presents observations of diurnal–inertial motions forced by a sea–land breeze regime near critical latitudes (30∘±10∘N/S) for resonance on the Portuguese shelf. Wind conditions were determined with an Aanderaa meteorological buoy placed in the Bay of Setúbal during the Maritime Rapid Environmental Assessment 2004 (MREA04) sea trial. Curre...

We report, from remote sensing and in situ observations, a new type of permanent structure in the eastern subtropical Atlantic Ocean, that we call the “Canary Eddy Corridor”. The phenomenon, is a zonal long-lived (>3 months) mesoscale eddy corridor, whose source is the flow perturbation of the Canary Current and the Trade Winds at the Canary Island...

The Cape Verde Frontal Zone separates North and South Atlantic Central Waters in the eastern North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre. CTD-O2 and shipboard ADCP data from three hydrographic sections carried out in September 2003 are used to study the structure of the front. Results show the relation between spatial variations of water masses and currents, d...

[1] The large-scale Canary Basin circulation is estimated from a box inverse model applied to hydrographic data from a quasi-synoptic survey carried out in September 2003. The cruise consisted of 76 full depth CTD and oxygen stations. Circulation is required to nearly conserve mass and anomalies of salinity and heat within layers bounded by neutral...

Transparent exopolymer particles (TEP) are recognized to play an important role in the flux of exported carbon to the deep ocean. However, there is little information on how TEP standing stocks are affected by different hydrographic conditions and other relevant ecological factors in situ. This lack of knowledge is particularly serious for the Sout...

During Fall 1995 and Fall 1997 two hydrographic cruises were done with the RN Hespérides between the Iberian Peninsula and the Canary ArchipeIago, with special coverage of the Cape Ghir Filament region. XBT, CTD and ADCP measurements are reported for these cruises . Synoptic XBT measurements, using opportunify ships, were also taken along several s...

The variability of the Canary Current is investigated using bimonthly expandable bathythermograph sections from Gran Canaria Island to the African coast between November 1996 and September 1998. The geostrophic transport of the easternmost branch of the Canary Current is estimated by integrating the thermal wind equation using the layer of neutral...

Islands in deep oceanic waters have rather vulnerable ecosystems due both to the narrowness of their coastal platforms and the presence of very steep slopes. We examine the different mechanisms capable at exchanging water at the platform edge of oceanic islands, and conclude that the principal ones are turbulent transport in the boundary layers gen...

The influence of the spectral bandwidth on the probabilistic structure of the joint distribution of wave heights and periods is analyzed by means of simulated wave records. In particular, the effects of the spectral bandwidth on the asymmetric and bimodal structure of the distributions are examined. Moreover, the adequacy of some theoretical models...

Analysis of water level and current meter series from different locations on the island shelf of Gran Canaria reveals strong variations in tidal properties. Semidiurnal sea level amplitudes agree with the results obtained from global tidal models for this region only on the northern coast of the island, while they decrease towards the southwest (10...

LA MAREA OCEANICA ES UN FENOMENO ONDULATORIO GENERADO, FUNDAMENTALMENTE, POR EL CAMPO DE FUERZAS GRAVITATORIAS DE LA LUNA Y EL SOL QUE CREAN ACELERACIONES INSTANTANEAS DIFERENTES EN CADA PUNTO DE LA TIERRA. EN ESTE TRABAJO DE TESIS SE ESTUDIAN DIVERSAS CARACTERISTICAS DE LA PROPAGACION DE ONDAS DE MAREA MEDIANTE ANALISIS TEORICOS Y SIMULACIONES NUM...

Numerical solutions of the equations of hydrodynamics are sought for cases of increasing complexity, to provide a precise and quantitative understanding of the effects of quadratic friction on tidal motion. These confirm previous inferences, namely the dependence of the damping on the amplitude of the component, the unequal damping of the component...