Regulation of a surface chlorophyll hotspot by wind-driven upwelling and eddy circulation in the Santa Barbara Channel, Southern California

Abstract

While most of the U.S. Pacific coast is dominated by strong wind-driven upwelling in the spring and regular seasonal cycles of phytoplankton primary production, the Southern California Bight has weak intermittent wind-driven upwelling and low phytoplankton concentrations due to its irregular sheltered coastline. However, the Santa Barbara Channel (SBC), located in the northern Southern California Bight, contains an anomalous hotspot of phytoplankton biomass. We use 3D ocean circulation and particle tracking models, an empirical temperature-nitrate relationship, and satellite observations of surface chlorophyll from 1998 to 2007 to determine how wind-driven upwelling and cyclonic eddy circulation govern phytoplankton dynamics in the SBC. Our findings show that elevated surface chlorophyll in the spring is driven by the coupling of wind-driven upwelling and cyclonic eddy circulation and requires the presence of both high nitrate from wind-driven upwelling and prolonged residence times from eddy circulation. Long residence times, created by persistent cyclonic eddy circulation, allow nitrate transported into the surface layer by wind-driven upwelling to be retained in the SBC long enough to meet the required timescales for phytoplankton nutrient uptake and accumulation, overcoming the typically weak wind-driven upwelling of the Southern California Bight. Typical spring upwelling periods (SUPs) have high levels of surface chlorophyll, which are produced by the balanced coupling of upwelling strength and cyclonic eddy circulation. For two years of our study, 1998 and 1999, the SUP did not correlate with elevated surface chlorophyll. Corresponding to a strong El Niño event, the 1998 SUP had exceptionally weak wind-driven upwelling, which did not produce sufficient levels of nitrate to stimulate elevated surface chlorophyll. For the 1999 SUP, a strong La Niña event produced unusually strong wind-driven upwelling, which resulted in very high levels of nitrate, but suppressed eddy circulation and residence times to the point where phytoplankton biomass could not accumulate in the SBC. These anomalous SUPs illustrate that when wind-driven upwelling is too strong or too weak, the balance between wind-driven upwelling and cyclonic eddy circulation is disrupted, resulting in a dramatic reduction of surface chlorophyll, which may become more frequent with climate-driven upwelling changes in the future.