SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL VARIABILITY OF WESTERLY WIND DRIFT BY SATELLITE WINDS (QUIKSCAT)

By mean of 110 monthly images (1999-2008) of wind stress from Quikscat satellite, the divergence zone of equatorward and poleward winds was analyzed. At the surrounding area of the Pacific Eastern boundary, for both north and south, the displacement of the wind divergence zone (DDZ) was Studied by a time serie versus position. The statistical analysis reveals that DDZ is influenced by high frequency (3 months), seasonal (12 months) and interannual signals (> 2 years), the last associated to warm event of El Nino. The most predominant signal was the seasonal, showing DDZ in the northern zone is highly coupled with the DDZ in the south. Furthermore, the DDZ of the northern zone showed a major seasonal displacement in comparison to the southern area, likely associated to the shape of coastline, since the Southern zone is influenced by polar signals.