Some controversies existed on wether the Canary Current was a southward extention of the Portugal Current or an eastern branch of the Azores Current. The ORCA project was born to solve this controversy by sampling the eastern boundary of the Subtropical Gyre during fall 2009.  A total of 91 stations covering the region 28.5-37.0 ºN and 9.1-24.5ºW were sampled.  The project concluded that the Canary Current was the strongest during fall and fed by the Azores Current. A detailed explanation of the circulation on the eastern Subtropical Gyre is given together with the carbon budget of the area. 
 

Highlighted Publications: 
-  Santana-Falcón Y., X.A. Álvarez-Salgado, M.D. Pérez-Hernández, A. Hernández-Guerra, E. Mason, J. Aristegui (2017). Organic carbon budget for the eastern     boundary of the North Atlantic Subtropical gyre: a box model approach. Scientific Reports 7, 10129​. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-10974-y

- Pérez-Hernández, M.D., A. Hernández-Guerra, E. Fraile-Nuez, I. Comas-Rodríguez, V. M. Benítez-Barrios, J.F. Domínguez-Yanez,  P. Vélez-Belchí, (2013): The source of the Canary current in fall 2009. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 118, 1-18.doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jgrc.20227. 

​- Comas-Rodríguez, I., A. Hernández-Guerra, E. Fraile-Nuez, A. Martínez-Marrero, V. Venítez-Barrios, M.D. Pérez-Hernández, and P. Velez-Belchí (2011), The Azores Current System from a meridional section at 24.5ºW, Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 116, C09021, doi: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2011JC007129

website: http://iocag.ulpgc.es/research/projects
role: Ph.D. student working on the project
IP: Alonso Hernández Guerra
Funding agency: Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia
Duration: 2006-2010

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