Cabo Verde climate & sea currents

The North Atlantic currents 

The interaction between the currents and the archipelago contributes to the unique environmental conditions of Cabo Verde, making it a distinctive location with rich marine life, appealing beaches, and a favorable climate for tourism. 

The Large-scale Circulation- Canary Current

The sea currents around the Cabo Verde archipelago are primarily influenced by the Canary Current, part of the North Atlantic Gyre. This subtropical gyre, located in the low to mid-latitudes of the North Atlantic Ocean, rotates clockwise. The Canary Current is a cool and relatively slow-moving ocean current that flows southward along the west coast of Africa, from the Iberian Peninsula to the coast of Senegal, and affects the waters around the Cabo Verde islands.

Here are some key points about the sea currents in the Cabo Verde region:

1. Consistency: The Canary Current is quite consistent due to its position within the large-scale circulation of the North Atlantic Gyre, contributing to the moderate and stable climate of the islands.

2. Nutrient-Rich Waters: As a feature of the Canary Current, the upwelling of deeper, colder, and nutrient-rich water occurs especially along the northwest coast of Africa. This brings nutrients to the surface waters, which supports a rich marine ecosystem around the islands, benefiting both the local fishing industry and marine biodiversity.

3. Temperature Regulation: The Canary Current plays a significant role in regulating the sea temperatures around the islands, contributing to the generally warm but not overly hot sea temperatures that facilitate year-round aquatic activities.

4. Influence on Weather: The sea currents, combined with the prevailing north-easterly trade winds, significantly influence the weather patterns of the archipelago, contributing to the semi-arid climate experienced by many of the islands.

5. Route for Marine Migration: The currents in this region serve as routes for the migration of various marine species, making the waters around Cabo Verde an interesting spot for marine observation, especially for species such as whales, turtles, and game fish.

The interaction between the currents and the archipelago contributes to the unique environmental conditions of Cabo Verde, making it a distinctive location with rich marine life, appealing beaches, and a favorable climate for tourism.

All you need to know about Gyre

Now we are diving into the fascinating world of oceanography as we explore the phenomenon of 'gyres.' Think of a gyre as a colossal whirlpool in the ocean, but instead of swirling water down a drain, this swirl is spread out across vast expanses of the open sea.

So, what exactly is a gyre? A gyre is a large system of circular ocean currents formed by the Earth's wind patterns and the forces created by the rotation of the planet. These forces are primarily the Coriolis effect, which deflects the path of moving objects (like wind and water) to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere, and the centrifugal force, which pushes objects away from the center of rotation.

There are five major ocean gyres: the North and South Atlantic Gyres, the North and South Pacific Gyres, and the Indian Ocean Gyre.

Imagine you're standing in a playground, spinning a merry-go-round. As it spins, items placed on the merry-go-round move outward due to the centrifugal force. Now, if you placed a ball on it, that ball would not just go straight from the center to the edge but would curve as it moves outwards. This curving is similar to the Coriolis effect that we see on Earth.

In terms of global climate, gyres play a monumental role. They facilitate the transfer of heat from the equatorial regions up towards the poles, which helps regulate our climate. Warm water near the equator is moved to higher latitudes, where it cools and sinks, whilst colder water is brought back towards the equator to warm up, creating a conveyor belt of ocean circulation.

But why should we care about these massive swirls of water? Well, gyres also affect marine life by distributing nutrients across the oceans. They determine where many marine animals feed and migrate, and they also impact human life by determining weather patterns, affecting shipping routes, and unfortunately, concentrating pollutants in certain areas like the infamous Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

It's important to understand the dynamics of gyres because their behavior can alter with climate change, which could have profound effects on weather patterns, sea temperatures, and the health of marine ecosystems.