Analysis of the correlation between temperature and salinity of the Peruvian coastal marine ecosystem: a multivariate approach

Abstract

Temperature and salinity are variables that have a direct influence on biodiversity, species distribution and productivity of the Peruvian coastal marine ecosystem. The research, with a quantitative approach and a non-experimental, cross-sectional, descriptive-correlational design, had as its purpose to determine the relationship between the sets of variables temperature and salinity in the Peruvian coastal marine ecosystem through canonical correlation analysis, from the 3430 data obtained from the Log of the Southern Oceanographic Cruise of the Peruvian Navy, in the six stations each located in San Juan, Callao, Chimbote, Chicama, Punta Falsa and Paita, in the sampling carried out from September 15 to October 15, 2011. The canonical correlation as a multivariate approach simultaneously analyzed the relationships between the sets of variables temperature and salinity through the generation of six pairs of canonical variables. It was concluded that, in the first pair of canonical variables with the highest correlation, in the canonical variable associated with temperature, the highest canonical load (0.1584) was presented at the Chimbote station; likewise, in the canonical variable associated with salinity, the Chimbote station presented the highest canonical load (2.8072). That is, the temperature and salinity of the Chimbote station were those that contributed the most to the correlation between the first pair of canonical variables (r = 0.9971).