The influence of superficial Lagrangian transport routes in the retention capacity of the Azores Islands

Abstract

Understand the general routes of dispersion mediated by ocean currents are of special interest for fisheries management and conservation biology, being a very useful tool in the definition of protected areas. This knowledge is inestimable in the particular case of the Azores Island, a hot-spot of biodiversity in the Atlantic Ocean. A first approach to identify superficial transport pathways of the northeast AAttlantic Ocean used the Regional Oceanic Modeling System to calculate ocean current velocity components (u, v, w), and Ariane (an offline Fortran code dedicated to the computation of three-dimensional streamlines from velocity fields) to calculate the transport of particles around the numerical model domain. Results were consistent with known connectivity and drifting patterns. A second study was conducted centred on these islands using the Hyybrid Coordinate Ocean Model coupled with the Connectivity Modeling System. The Gulf Stream and the westward propagating eddy corridor off the Azores Current were identified as the main transport pathways affecting the Archipelago.