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Abstract
In the presence of stable near-surface haline stratification, intermittent cold sea surface temperature (SST, upwelling) events produced by gap winds off the Central American Pacific coast should be accompanied by uplifts of saltier water. We illustrate that Aquarius satellite sea surface salinity (SSS) captures these high SSS events. In boreal winter when the intense gap winds are frequent, two tongues of anomalously salty water develop off the Gulfs of Tehuantepec and Papagayo. During that season the average SSS in the meridionally oriented Tehuantepec tongue is about 0.4 psu saltier than the background SSS. The zonally elongated Papagayo tongue stands out even more strongly, being 1–2 psu saltier than SSS in the neighbouring Panama Bight. The spatial locations and orientations of the salty tongues closely correspond to the locations and orientations of the cool SST tongues, suggesting they have similar governing mechanisms.