Marine Cyclones Over South Atlantic Ocean during 1999 Winter. Part I: Their Structure, Intensity and Evolution

The period from April to September is characterized by an intense baroclinic activity between 20S and 35S in South America. Usually cyclones develop over the eastern continent and the adjacent ocean. They are responsible for cold fronts displacing over the continent, resulting sometimes in heavy rain, snow, and strong surface winds in Argentina, Uruguai and South of Brazil. The 1999 winter was marked by a higher incidence of marine cyclones accompanying by strong surface winds, and intenseocean surface wave activity in a large area along the Brazilian Coast. Several shipwerecks, damages and deads were noticed by the newspapers. This reasearch deals with these cyclones. The remarkable features concerning their vertical structure, intensity and displacement during the developing, mature, and decaying stages are described.