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• 1. [Article] Horizontal transport and the distribution of nutrients in the coastal transition zone off Northern California: effects on primary production, phytoplankton biomass and species composition

  Conductivity-temperature-depth surveys during 1988 encountered strong baroclinic jets that were evident in acoustic Doppler current profiler and hydrographic data. During June and July 1988 a filament ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Horizontal transport and the distribution of nutrients in the coastal transition zone off Northern California: effects on primary production, phytoplankton biomass and species composition Author: Stanton, Timothy P., Kosro, P. Michael, 1951-, Ramp, Steven R., Rojas de Mendiola, Blanca, Huyer, Adriana, 1945-, Chavez, Francisco P., Barber, Richard T. Conductivity-temperature-depth surveys during 1988 encountered strong baroclinic jets that were evident in acoustic Doppler current profiler and hydrographic data. During June and July 1988 a filament with high surface nitrate, high chlorophyll, abundant populations of neritic centric diatoms, and higher rates of primary production was evident perpendicular to the coast between Point Arena and Point Reyes. However, the high-nutrient and phytoplankton regions were not in the baroclinic jets but were south and inshore of them. Surface water transported offshore by the strong baroclinic jets was found to have relatively low nutrient content, suggesting that the jets themselves do not carry significant levels of coastally upwelled, high-nutrient water to the ocean interior. The low nutrient and salinity content of the jet suggests that the water originated several hundred kilometers upstream. Although the jets themselves do not appear to transport significant levels of nutrients directly from the coastal regime to the oceanic regime, dynamic processes associated with a meandering jet are likely responsible for high surface nutrients found several hundred kilometers offshore. Processes such as upwelling along the southern edge of the seaward jet result in significant enrichment of the coastal transition zone and in large blooms of neritic diatoms. During 1988 the high-nutrient, high-phytoplankton filament was present when the survey sequence began but then decayed after a month. The surface and subsurface nitrate fields were coherent with the dynamic topography field throughout the survey sequence; however, the surface and integrated chlorophyll fields were coherent only through the first two surveys. A decrease in phytoplankton biomass began during the third survey coincident with physical changes which occurred in that time frame: (1) an intensification of the undercurrent and (2) changes in the surface circulation from predominantly offshore to predominantly alongshore. Understanding the processes responsible for the uncoupling between biology and physics is paramount for realistic biological models of this region. Title: Horizontal transport and the distribution of nutrients in the coastal transition zone off Northern California: effects on primary production, phytoplankton biomass and species composition Author: Stanton, Timothy P., Kosro, P. Michael, 1951-, Ramp, Steven R., Rojas de Mendiola, Blanca, Huyer, Adriana, 1945-, Chavez, Francisco P., Barber, Richard T. Conductivity-temperature-depth surveys during 1988 encountered strong baroclinic jets that were evident in acoustic Doppler current profiler and hydrographic data. During June and July 1988 a filament with high surface nitrate, high chlorophyll, abundant populations of neritic centric diatoms, and higher rates of primary production was evident perpendicular to the coast between Point Arena and Point Reyes. However, the high-nutrient and phytoplankton regions were not in the baroclinic jets but were south and inshore of them. Surface water transported offshore by the strong baroclinic jets was found to have relatively low nutrient content, suggesting that the jets themselves do not carry significant levels of coastally upwelled, high-nutrient water to the ocean interior. The low nutrient and salinity content of the jet suggests that the water originated several hundred kilometers upstream. Although the jets themselves do not appear to transport significant levels of nutrients directly from the coastal regime to the oceanic regime, dynamic processes associated with a meandering jet are likely responsible for high surface nutrients found several hundred kilometers offshore. Processes such as upwelling along the southern edge of the seaward jet result in significant enrichment of the coastal transition zone and in large blooms of neritic diatoms. During 1988 the high-nutrient, high-phytoplankton filament was present when the survey sequence began but then decayed after a month. The surface and subsurface nitrate fields were coherent with the dynamic topography field throughout the survey sequence; however, the surface and integrated chlorophyll fields were coherent only through the first two surveys. A decrease in phytoplankton biomass began during the third survey coincident with physical changes which occurred in that time frame: (1) an intensification of the undercurrent and (2) changes in the surface circulation from predominantly offshore to predominantly alongshore. Understanding the processes responsible for the uncoupling between biology and physics is paramount for realistic biological models of this region. Close

• 2. [Article] Currents and water masses of the coastal transition zone off Northern California, June to August 1988

  In summer 1988, we made repeated mesoscale surveys of a grid extending 200 km offshore between 37°N and 39°N in the coastal transition zone off northern California, obtaining continuous acoustic Doppler ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Currents and water masses of the coastal transition zone off Northern California, June to August 1988 Author: Ramp, Steven R., Washburn, Libe, Cowles, Timothy J., Fleischbein, Jane, Stanton, Tim, Huyer, Adriana, 1945-, Kosro, P. Michael, 1951-, Smith, Robert L. (Robert Lloyd), 1935-, Pierce, Stephen D., Chavez, Francisco P. In summer 1988, we made repeated mesoscale surveys of a grid extending 200 km offshore between 37°N and 39°N in the coastal transition zone off northern California, obtaining continuous acoustic Doppler current profiler data and conductivity-temperature-depth data at standard stations 25 km apart on alongshore sections 40 km apart. All surveys showed a baroclinic equatorward jet, with core velocities of >50 cm/s at the surface decreasing to about 10 cm/s at 200m , a width of 50-75 km, and a baroclinic transporotf about4 Sv. The core of the jet lay between the 8.6 and9 .4 m²/s² contours of geopotential anomaly (relative to 500 dbar). Three current meter moorings, deployed at 25-km separation across the jet at the beginning of the survey sequence, provided time-series of the velocity; throughout the 37-day deployment, at least one mooring was within the core defined by the 8.6 and9 .4 m²/s² contours. The jet flowed southwestward across the grid from late June until mid-July 1988, when the jet axis moved offshore in the north and onshore in the southern portion of the grid. Temperature-salinity analysis shows that jet waters can be distinguished from both the freshly upwelled coastal waters and the offshore waters. Isopycnal maps indicate alongshore advection of relatively fresh, cool water from farther north, as well as small-scale patchiness not resolved by our survey grid. The baroclinic jet observed here may be continuous with the core of the California Current off central California. The later surveys clearly showed a poleward-flowing undercurrent adjacent to the continental slope, with core velocities up to 20 cm/s at depths of 150-250 m. Its baroclinic transport (relative to 500 dbar) increased from <0.5 Sv to >1.0 Sv between late June and early August 1988. Within the survey grid, there was a definite onshore gradient in the characteristics of North Pacific Intermediate Water. The subsurface waters adjacent to the continental margin were warmer and more saline than those offshore, indicating net northward advection by the California Undercurrent over the inshore 100 km and equatorward advection farther from shore. Title: Currents and water masses of the coastal transition zone off Northern California, June to August 1988 Author: Ramp, Steven R., Washburn, Libe, Cowles, Timothy J., Fleischbein, Jane, Stanton, Tim, Huyer, Adriana, 1945-, Kosro, P. Michael, 1951-, Smith, Robert L. (Robert Lloyd), 1935-, Pierce, Stephen D., Chavez, Francisco P. In summer 1988, we made repeated mesoscale surveys of a grid extending 200 km offshore between 37°N and 39°N in the coastal transition zone off northern California, obtaining continuous acoustic Doppler current profiler data and conductivity-temperature-depth data at standard stations 25 km apart on alongshore sections 40 km apart. All surveys showed a baroclinic equatorward jet, with core velocities of >50 cm/s at the surface decreasing to about 10 cm/s at 200m , a width of 50-75 km, and a baroclinic transporotf about4 Sv. The core of the jet lay between the 8.6 and9 .4 m²/s² contours of geopotential anomaly (relative to 500 dbar). Three current meter moorings, deployed at 25-km separation across the jet at the beginning of the survey sequence, provided time-series of the velocity; throughout the 37-day deployment, at least one mooring was within the core defined by the 8.6 and9 .4 m²/s² contours. The jet flowed southwestward across the grid from late June until mid-July 1988, when the jet axis moved offshore in the north and onshore in the southern portion of the grid. Temperature-salinity analysis shows that jet waters can be distinguished from both the freshly upwelled coastal waters and the offshore waters. Isopycnal maps indicate alongshore advection of relatively fresh, cool water from farther north, as well as small-scale patchiness not resolved by our survey grid. The baroclinic jet observed here may be continuous with the core of the California Current off central California. The later surveys clearly showed a poleward-flowing undercurrent adjacent to the continental slope, with core velocities up to 20 cm/s at depths of 150-250 m. Its baroclinic transport (relative to 500 dbar) increased from <0.5 Sv to >1.0 Sv between late June and early August 1988. Within the survey grid, there was a definite onshore gradient in the characteristics of North Pacific Intermediate Water. The subsurface waters adjacent to the continental margin were warmer and more saline than those offshore, indicating net northward advection by the California Undercurrent over the inshore 100 km and equatorward advection farther from shore. Close