Physical processes associated with high primary production in Saanich Inlet, British Columbia

Abstract

Saanich Inlet, British Columbia, has long been known for the presence, in most years, of anoxic bottom water. One factor contributing to this anoxia is a high level of primary production, which occurs as a major spring bloom followed by sporadic ‘mini-blooms’ throughout the summer and early fall. The process(es) by which new production is refueled after nutrient exhaustion caused by the spring bloom are not well known, since Saanich is an inverse estuary and vertical mixing driven by winds and tides is low. This study presents new observational evidence that strongly suggests that the dominant mechanism of nutrient resupply during the summer months is intermittent advective exchange, driven by pressure gradients set up by strong tidal mixing in passages outside Saanich Inlet itself. A simple box model is formulated to illustrate this mechanism. When driven by annual freshwater forcing and deepwater renewal functions characteristic of the region and measured tides for 1975, the model predicts resupply of nitrate during most of the periods observed in 1975 observations (Deep-Sea Res. 24 (1977) 775). This ‘action-at-a distance’ nutrient resupply mechanism, involving strong but localized turbulent mixing and subsequent distribution of the products of mixing over large-horizontal distances by pressure-gradient-driven flow, is likely important in other coastal regions where the estuarine circulation is weak.