Eastern boundary upwelling systems (EBUS) have historically received attention from the scientific community due to their impact on the economic development of these highly productive systems. Remote sensing, numerical modeling, and in situ observations have increased their spatial and temporal resolutions during the last 40 years in their strategy to provide reliable products about the actual state of the ocean. The assembly of several data sources currently constitutes an opportunity to increase our knowledge about the present and future state of the relatively narrow and highly variable EBUS.

The primary forcing mechanism in the upwelling regions is the wind stress in areas close to the coast. Long-term trends in wind intensity in upwelling areas present considerable uncertainties as the different wind databases produce divergent results. On the other hand, although the effect of climate change in the interior ocean is increasing temperatures in upwelling areas, the long-term trends seem to be in the opposite direction. Hence, assessing the long-term impact of the environmental conditions on upwelling development represents a major challenge for the scientific community. This special issue aims to discuss the state-of-the-art understanding of dynamical processes governing the ocean at the eastern boundary upwelling systems in a changing ocean.

This Research Topic aims to discuss the state-of-the-art understanding of dynamical processes governing the ocean at the eastern boundary upwelling systems in a changing ocean.

This Research Topic invites contributions of original research papers focused on deepening the physical oceanography in eastern boundary upwelling systems based on observations, numerical modeling, or a theoretical approach. Authors are highly encouraged to submit papers combining analyses performed at different upwelling zones.

Detailed topics might cover, but are not restricted to:
- long-term trends in wind variability within the upwelling zones,
- upwelling fronts as sources of long-lived eddies produced by baroclinic instabilities,
- multiscale interactions and kinetic energy transfer between dynamical regimes (balanced motions and internal gravity waves),
- the dynamical vertical connection between the equatorward surface current and the poleward undercurrent,
- the physical processes involved in the development of El Niño-La Niña events and their relationship to climatic indices, and
- local mesoscale and submesoscale air-sea interactions.

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Frontiers in Marine Science

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