Is There Decadal Scale Information Present in the Texas Coastal Current?

Since 1995 Texas A&M University has operated a system of automated near real-time oceanographic buoys off the Texas coast (the Texas Automated Buoy System or TABS). This system supports the time-critical decision-support needs of the Texas General Land Office for oil spill prevention and response. The buoys are designed to measure the currents and water temperatures at 2-m below the surface and telemeter the data to shore. As of January 1, 2002 more than 550,000 half-hourly current meter and temperature records (representing 30 buoy-years of collective operation) have been collected, quality controlled, and made available on our DODS server. TABS buoys have occupied 18 different sites across the shelf, with two buoys, one near Galveston and one near Corpus Christi, operating almost continuously in the Texas Coastal Current. We examine data from those buoys for any evidence of decadal scale information. Sea surface temperature anomaly at the two sites shows a positive correlation to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). The presence of a decadal signal in the current record is not clear; there is no long-term consistent correlation to either ENSO or NAO. We suspect the record may better correlate to a local index, possibly based on wind data.