The River–Sea Interaction off the Amazon Estuary

Abstract

The Amazon River has the highest discharge in the world. Nevertheless, there is still a lack of the research on the interaction between river-diluted water and the ocean. This study used the remote sensing data (2008–2017) of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Aqua satellite, and data of the currents, wind fields, sea surface temperature, and water depth. The river–sea interaction off the Amazon estuary was studied by analyzing the diffusion of river-diluted water and the distribution of surface suspended particulate matter (SPM). The results revealed that the Amazon estuary has a “filter effect,” whereby the distribution of the surface SPM exhibited significant spatial characteristics of being high in the nearshore area and low in the offshore area. Most of the SPM accumulated within the estuary in a fan shape, although some was distributed in the shallow water region of the continental shelf along the coasts on both sides of the estuary. The currents were found to limit the diffusion range of SPM. The flow direction and velocity of the North Brazil Current and the North Equatorial Countercurrent, which are largely driven by the magnitude of the trade wind stress, are the main forces controlling the long-distance diffusion of diluted water, thus forming unique river–sea interaction patterns in the Amazon estuary. This research provides a supplement and reference for the study of the diffusion process of SPM and river-diluted water, and on the estuarine river–sea interactions of other large rivers worldwide.