High values of sea surface temperature in the Algarve - July and August 2016
2016-08-24 (IPMA)
During July 2016 the sea surface temperature in the southern Algarve coast showed an upward trend, initially on the eastern part and later also on the western part (Figure 1). For example, between 19 and 26 July 2016, the average sea water temperature in the nearby region of Sagres was 22 to 23 ° C and above 24 ° C east of Faro.
In fact, between mid-July and mid-August 2016 the sea surface temperature in Faro buoy from Hydrographic Institute recorded values between 22 to 26 ° C, these values being higher than in the previous period - the last week of June and the first half of July 2016 - between 19 and 23 ° C (Figure 2).
These temperature values of sea surface temperature were higher than in the same period in 2015, examples of which are the values from 17 to 19 ° C between Sagres and Portimão and 22 to 23 ° C near Vila Real de Santo António in the period between 20 and 27 July 2015 (Figure 3).
When compared to the reference period 1981-2010, between July 17 and August 13, 2016, the sea surface temperature anomaly water in the region was 0.5 to 1 ° C (Figure 4), with typical values at this time of year in the range between 22 and 24 ° C.
The rise in sea surface temperature off the south coast of the Algarve occurs after “Levante” wind episodes in the Strait of Gibraltar, which are associated with a transport of warm water from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean, reaching afterwards the southern coast of the Iberian Peninsula, in particular the Eastern Algarve.
Specifically, in the second half of July and first half of August 2016, “Levante” wind in the Strait of Gibraltar was persistent, and with few interruptions, favoring the maintenance of high sea surface temperature on the south coast of the Algarve.
On the other hand, in this period, on the west coast of the continent, sea surface temperature ranged from 15 ° C to the north (with lower values than usual, Figure 4) and 19 ° C further south, and, from the end of July 2016, with a gradual increase south of the Setúbal peninsula, reaching values in this region between 20 and 23 ° C in mid-August (Figures 5 and 6).
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