An Inshore Poleward Current in the NW of the Iberian Peninsula Detected from Satellite Images, and its Relation withG. catenatum and D. acuminata Blooms in the Galician Rias

Abstract

Toxic Gymnodinium catenatum blooms usually occur in the Galician Rias at the end of the upwelling season, which necessitates a ban on harvesting shellfish extraction, with subsequent economic losses for this sector. One of the possible causes cited in the literature is the advection of populations from outside the area but no evidence was available to substantiate this.Oceanographic conditions at the end of the upwelling season in the NW coast of the Iberian Peninsula (39°–43°N) have been studied for the years 1986, 1990, 1995 and 1998. Sea surface temperature data from satellite images, wind data, drifter tracks and in situ oceanic data from the Galician Rias have been combined to clarify the oceanographic structures in the area at the commencement of the blooms. On the inner shelf, an inshore poleward current advecting warm water has been identified after the cessation of upwelling. On the middle and outer shelf, a tongue of cold water as a remnant of the previous upwelling continued to move southward. On the slope and offshore, the poleward counter current reported by several authors was detected carrying warm oceanic water northwards.It is suggested that the inshore poleward current, not previously reported in the literature, could advect initial populations of dinoflagellates to the Rias from northern Portuguese waters. This would explain why blooms such as G. catenatum have been found usually in Portuguese waters several weeks before the Galician Rias, showing an apparent northward movement, but cells of this toxic dinoflagellate species have not been found in waters of the offshore poleward counter current.