The Western South Atlantic Sea Surface Temperature and Brazil Current Volume Transport at 30°S: a Study Based on the Brazilian Earth System Model 2.5 Historical Simulations

The analyses of sea surface temperature (SST) in the western portion of the South Atlantic and the integrated volume transport of the Brazil Current (BCVT) at 30°S were conducted using historical results (Jan/1993-Nov/2005) from the Brazilian Earth System Model version 2.5 (BESM-OA2.5) and comparing them with those from the 2M version of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Earth System Model (GFDL-ESM2M) and the Global Ocean Physics Reanalysis 12V1 (GLORYS12V1). The GHRSST Level 4 AVHRR_OI Global Blended Sea Surface Temperature Analysis (GHRSSTL4) product was used to validate these results. A tendency of overestimation of SST values by the Brazilian model was observed by approximately 1.07°C compared to GHRSSTL4. The BCVT results at 30°S indicated an average value of 10.54±4.68, 6.79±1.40, and 11.99±4.16 Sv for BESM-OA2.5, GFDL-ESM2M, and GLORYS12V1, respectively. For the Brazil-Malvinas Confluence region, the authors found a mean Bias of 3.76 °C with a maximum of 10.38 °C according to BESM-OA2.5 results in relation to GHRSSTL4. Compared to other studies, the BCVT values obtained were lower due to the use of more direct observational data, such as current meters and buoys by other authors. Additionally, the low spatial resolution of the models used may limit the detailed representation of the Brazil Current.