Abstract

The continental shelf in the Colombian Caribbean is quite complex in the processes of ocean-atmosphere coupling, due to the influence of the trade winds, the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and continental contributions from several rivers. These factors generate a highly energetic marine environment, evidenced in the coastal geomorphologic diversity. By using satellite images that represent the surface characteristics of the sea, it contributes to study the oceanographic processes that occur on a spatial and temporal scale, difficult to understand through scientific surveys. This study proposes to describe the surface oceanographic conditions (temperature, chlorophyll-a) during 2003 to 2017. The data were obtained as follows: (1) the database for chlorophyll-a and temperature was created, with a spatial resolution of 4 km from the MODIS-A satellite; (2) the winds were obtained from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); (3) the geostrophic currents of Marine Copernicus. The multi-year monthly behavior of the oceanographic variables and the respective anomalies for the year 2017 are presented. Due to the trade winds from the northeast, there is a decrease in surface temperature and in-creases in chlorophyll, indicating possible upwellings during the months of January, February, March in the Guajira zone. In 2017, the anomalies for the concentration of chlorophyll indicate that in February and March there was greater primary productivity in the northern zone and in the south zone was in October due to the continental contributions of the Magdale-na River.

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