Abstract
AbstractUsing underwater gliders we have identified canyon driven upwelling across the Celtic Sea shelf‐break, in the vicinity of Whittard Canyon. The presence of this upwelling appears to be tied to the direction and strength of the local slope current, which is in itself highly variable. During typical summer time equatorward flow, an unbalanced pressure gradient force and the resulting disruption of geostrophic flow can lead to upwelling along the main axis of two small shelf break canyons. As the slope current reverts to poleward flow, the upwelling stops and the remnants of the upwelled features are mixed into the local shelf water or advected away from the region. The upwelled features are identified by the presence of sub‐pycnocline high salinity water on the shelf, and are upwelled from a depth of 300 m on the slope, thus providing a mechanism for the transport of nutrients across the shelf break onto the shelf.
Highlights
There are over 660 submarine canyons [De Leo et al, 2010]
They incise the continental margins of all ocean basins and are known hotspots of enhanced deep-sea sediment and water flux [Savoye et al, 2009], dense water cascades [Canals et al, 2009], benthic biomass [Duineveld et al, 2001] and fishing activity
In shelf sea environments where the transport of nutrients and carbon between the shelf and open ocean is a crucial component of the Continental Shelf Carbon Pump [Gruber, 2015; Laruelle et al, 2014; Thomas et al, 2004; Tsunogai et al, 1999] the dynamics of cross-slope flow are of particular importance
Summary
There are over 660 submarine canyons [De Leo et al, 2010] They incise the continental margins of all ocean basins and are known hotspots of enhanced deep-sea sediment and water flux [Savoye et al, 2009], dense water cascades [Canals et al, 2009], benthic biomass [Duineveld et al, 2001] and fishing activity. The shelf seas require a supply of nutrients to fuel their disproportionately large contribution to global primary productivity [Simpson and Sharples, 2012], and as a means of exporting carbon removed from the atmosphere to the deep ocean below the permanent thermocline. Due to distance from the coast, at the edges of wide shelves such as the NW European shelf this nutrient supply is largely from the open ocean [Proctor et al, 2003]
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