Short-timescale thermohaline variability and residual circulation in the central segment of the coastal upwelling system of the Ría de Vigo (northwest Spain) during four contrasting periods

Sixteen hydrographic surveys were carried out in the middle segment of the Ría de Vigo (northwest Spain) at 3‐ to 4‐day intervals during February, April, July, and September 2002 (four surveys per period). Simultaneously, an acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) mooring recorded the velocity profile. Combination of direct current measurements with the output of an inverse model based on the time course of the distributions of salinity and temperature allowed an objective analysis of the effect of the meteorological forces on the hydrodynamics of the Ría. Remote shelf winds explained more than 65% of the variability of the subtidal circulation, which responded immediately to this forcing (lag time,