Daily scale wintertime sea surface temperature and IPC-Navidad variability in the southern Bay of Biscay from 1981 to 2010

The combination of remotely sensed gappy Sea surface temperature (SST) images with the missing data filling DINEOF (data interpolating empirical orthogonal functions) technique, followed by a principal component analysis of the reconstructed data, has been used to identify the time evolution and the daily scale variability of the wintertime surface signal of the Iberian Poleward Current (IPC), or Navidad, during the 1981-2010 period. An exhaustive comparison with the existing bibliography, and the vertical temperature and salinity profiles related to its extremes over the Bay of Biscay area, show that the obtained time series accurately reflect the IPC-Navidad variability. Once a time series for the evolution of the SST signal of the current over the last decades is well established, this time series is used to propose a physical mechanism in relation to the variability of the IPC-Navidad, involving both atmospheric and oceanic variables. According to the proposed mechanism, an atmospheric circulation anomaly observed in both the 500 hPa and the surface levels generates atmospheric surface level pressure, wind-stress and heat-flux anomalies. In turn, those surface level atmospheric anomalies induce mutually coherent SST and sea level anomalies over the North Atlantic area, and locally, in the Bay of Biscay area. These anomalies, both locally over the Bay of Biscay area and over the North Atlantic, are in agreement with several mechanisms that have separately been related to the variability of the IPC-Navidad, i.e. the south-westerly winds, the joint effect of baroclinicity and relief (JEBAR) effect, the topographic beta effect and a weakened North Atlantic gyre.

Variability in the air-sea interaction patterns and timescales within the south-eastern Bay of Biscay, as observed by HF radar data

Two high-frequency (HF) radar stations were installed on the coast of the south-eastern Bay of Biscay in 2009, providing high spatial and temporal resolution and large spatial coverage of currents in the area for the first time. This has made it possible to quantitatively assess the air-sea interaction patterns and timescales for the period 2009-2010. The analysis was conducted using the Barnett-Preisendorfer approach to canonical correlation analysis (CCA) of reanalysis surface winds and HF radar-derived surface currents. The CCA yields two canonical patterns: the first wind-current interaction pattern corresponds to the classical Ekman drift at the sea surface, whilst the second describes an anticyclonic/cyclonic surface circulation. The results obtained demonstrate that local winds play an important role in driving the upper water circulation. The wind-current interaction timescales are mainly related to diurnal breezes and synoptic variability. In particular, the breezes force diurnal currents in waters of the continental shelf and slope of the south-eastern Bay. It is concluded that the breezes may force diurnal currents over considerably wider areas than that covered by the HF radar, considering that the northern and southern continental shelves of the Bay exhibit stronger diurnal than annual wind amplitudes.

Water quality assessment and characterisation of chlorophyll-a variability related to river discharges, within the southeastern Bay of Biscay : evaluation and development of chlorophyll-a algorithms for MODIS and MERIS imagery

222 p. : il.

Quantification of key biological processes determining the dynamics and the assessment of the anchovy population in the Bay of Biscay: growth, reproduction, demography and natural mortality.

333 p.

Identification of Sex and Female’s Reproductive Stage in Commercial Fish Species through the Quantification of Ribosomal Transcripts in Gonads

The estimation of maturity and sex of fish stocks in European waters is a requirement of the EU Data Collection Framework as part of the policy to improve fisheries management. On the other hand, research on fish biology is increasingly focused in molecular approaches, researchers needing correct identification of fish sex and reproductive stage without necessarily having in house the histological know-how necessary for the task. Taking advantage of the differential gene transcription occurring during fish sex differentiation and gametogenesis, the utility of 5S ribosomal RNA (5S rRNA) and General transcription factor IIIA (gtf3a) in the molecular identification of sex and gametogenic stage was tested in different economically-relevant fish species from the Bay of Biscay. Gonads of 9 fish species (, Atlantic, Atlantic-chub and horse mackerel, blue whiting, bogue, European anchovy, hake and pilchard and megrim), collected from local commercial fishing vessels were histologically sexed and 5S and 18S rRNA concentrations were quantified by capillary electrophoresis to calculate a 5S/18S rRNA index. Degenerate primers permitted cloning and sequencing of gtf3a fragments in 7 of the studied species. 5S rRNA and gtf3a transcript levels, together with 5S/18S rRNA index, distinguished clearly ovaries from testis in all of the studied species. The values were always higher in females than in males. 5S/18S rRNA index values in females were always highest when fish were captured in early phases of ovary development whilst, in later vitellogenic stages, the values decreased significantly. In megrim and European anchovy, where gonads in different oogenesis stages were obtained, the 5S/18S rRNA index identified clearly gametogenic stage. This approach, to the sexing and the quantitative non-subjective identification of the maturity stage of female fish, could have multiple applications in the study of fish stock dynamics, fish reproduction and fecundity and fish biology in general.