Figure 3.

(A–C): mid February (left), April (center) and June 2013 (right) instantaneous snapshots of surface relative vorticity normalized at each latitude by the Coriolis parameter to visualize the local Rossby number $Ro=|\zeta |/f$ (the latitudinal band around the equator is removed). (D–F): corresponding instantaneous snapshots of lateral divergence at the ocean surface. The black line represents the 250 m bathymetry line. The arrow on top of the panels (A,B,C) represent the average direction of the surface currents. The thickness of the line it is an indication of their intensity.