Coupling of coastal zone color scanner data to a physical‐biological model of the southeastern U.S. continental shelf ecosystem: 1. CZCS data description and Lagrangian particle tracing experiments

Abstract

Nine Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS) images from the southeastern U.S. continental shelf area during April 1980 were processed, and the resulting chlorophyll distributions were analyzed in conjunction with concurrent flow and temperature fields which were obtained from an optimal interpolation of current meter measurements from 17m. The chlorophyll distributions obtained from the CZCS showed high chlorophyll concentrations over the shelf and low chlorophyll concentrations over the offshore shelf region. The variance of the CZCS‐derived chlorophyll distributions was highest at the shelf break region. The chlorophyll patterns at the shelf break varied with time and space and showed shapes characteristic of typical Gulf Stream frontal eddies, high‐chlorophyll bands that were oriented along‐shelf, isolated high‐chlorophyll patches, and simple waveforms. Each event observed in the chlorophyll patterns corresponded with a Gulf Stream frontal eddy event that could be identified in the optimally interpolated flow and temperature fields. Lagrangian particle tracing experiments were also conducted to track the movement of the features observed in the CZCS images. The particles traced in these experiments showed movement that was consistent with the evolution of the patterns observed in the CZCS chlorophyll distributions. Results of the Lagrangian experiments indicate that the optimal interpolation of the current meter measurements reproduced the flow between successive CZCS images. These experiments provide evidence that the high‐chlorophyll bands seen in the CZCS chlorophyll distributions were produced by the passing of Gulf Stream frontal eddy events.