Coastal Upwelled Waters Research Articles

Low prevalence of microplastic contamination in planktivorous fish species from the southeast Pacific Ocean

The gut contents of 292 planktivorous fish, from four families (Atherinopsidae, Clupeidae, Engraulidae and Scombridae) and seven species, captured along the coast of the southeast Pacific, were examined for microplastic contamination. Only a small fraction of all studied fish (2.1%; 6 individuals) contained microplastic particles in their digestive tract. Microplastics found were degraded hard fragments and threads, ranging from 1.1 to 4.9 (3.8±SD 2.4) mm in length, and of various colours, which suggests that the planktivorous fish species examined herein did not capture microplastics on the basis of their colour. The low prevalence of microplastic contamination in planktivorous fishes found in this study suggests that the risk of accidental ingestion by these species might be limited in the coastal upwelled waters of the southeast Pacific, perhaps due to small human population and highly dynamic oceanographic processes.

Bacterial distribution and nutrient limitation in relation to different water masses in the coastal and northwestern South China Sea in late summer

In order to study heterotrophic bacterial responses to upwelling in the northern South China Sea (SCS) and the influence of the Pearl River estuarine coastal plume, two cruises were conducted to investigate the distribution of bacterial abundance (BA) in September–October 2004 and 2005, along with measurements of inorganic nutrients, particulate and dissolved organic carbon (POC and DOC) in 2004. Surface BA was 10±2×10 8 cells l −1 near the Pearl River estuary and 6±1×10 8 cells l −1 in oligotrophic offshore waters of the SCS in both 2004 and 2005. In contrast, BA was 15±3×10 8 cells l −1 in western coastal waters during the upwelling period in 2004, and decreased to 10±2×10 8 cells l −1 in 2005 when upwelling was absent, indicating that upwelling exerted a significant influence on BA ( p<0.05). Nutrient addition experiments were conducted and showed that phosphorus availability limited bacterial growth in coastal upwelled waters and near the Pearl River estuary, while bacteria in offshore waters were mainly C limited. The upwelled waters brought up considerable amounts of nutrients to the surface (e.g. DOC ∼70 μM, DIN ∼4 μM and PO 4 ∼0.1 μM). However, P addition increased BA and bacterial production (BP) by 20±5% and 30±5%, respectively, in the upwelled water, which was higher than those near the Pearl River estuary (2±1% and 20±3%, respectively) ( p<0.05). In the upwelled waters, phosphorus was low relative to nitrogen, which resulted in a high N:P ratio of 40:1 at the surface and hence potential P deficiency in bacteria. Consequently, there was a higher increase in BP in response to a PO 4 addition.

Different spreading of Somali and Arabian coastal upwelled waters in the northern Indian Ocean: A case study

The spreading pathways of the Somali and Arabian coastal upwelled waters in the northern Indian Ocean are identified from an ocean re-analysis data set of a single year using numerical passive tracers in a transport model. The Somali and Arabian coastal upwelled waters are found to have entirely different spreading pathways in the northern Indian ocean. The former circulates anticyclonically, is mixed vertically, and is advected to the eastern Indian Ocean along the north equatorial region; while the later intrudes into the northern Arabian Sea, circulates anticyclonically and is advected to the south in the central Arabian Sea and then to the eastern Indian Ocean. The seasonal surface mixing by strong monsoon winds and sheared currents due to dominant eddies of the Somali region are found responsible for mixing 25% of Somali upwelled water with the subsurface and affecting the resultant pathways. The effect of mixing is, however, found negligible in the case of Arabian coastal upwelled water pathways. The seasonal reversal of circulation and eddy dominance during the southwest monsoon cause the Somali upwelled water to spread over the northern Indian Ocean faster than the simultaneously upwelled Arabian coastal water.

Impacts of Kelvin wave forcing in the Peru Humboldt Current system: Scenarios of spatial reorganizations from physics to fishers

Because climate change challenges the sustainability of important fish populations and the fisheries they support, we need to understand how large scale climatic forcing affects the functioning of marine ecosystems. In the Humboldt Current system (HCS), a main driver of climatic variability is coastally-trapped Kelvin waves (KWs), themselves originating as oceanic equatorial KWs. Here we (i) describe the spatial reorganizations of living organisms in the Humboldt coastal system as affected by oceanic KWs forcing, (ii) quantify the strength of the interactions between the physical and biological component dynamics of the system, (iii) formulate hypotheses on the processes which drive the redistributions of the organisms, and (iv) build scenarios of space occupation in the HCS under varying KW forcing. To address these questions we explore, through bivariate lagged correlations and multivariate statistics, the relationships between time series of oceanic KW amplitude (TAO mooring data and model-resolved baroclinic modes) and coastal Peruvian oceanographic data (SST, coastal upwelled waters extent), anchoveta spatial distribution (mean distance to the coast, spatial concentration of the biomass, mean depth of the schools), and fishing fleet statistics (trip duration, searching duration, number of fishing sets and catch per trip, features of the foraging trajectory as observed by satellite vessel monitoring system). Data sets span all or part of January 1983 to September 2006. The results show that the effects of oceanic KW forcing are significant in all the components of the coastal ecosystem, from oceanography to the behaviour of the top predators – fishers. This result provides evidence for a bottom-up transfer of the behaviours and spatial stucturing through the ecosystem. We propose that contrasting scenarios develop during the passage of upwelling versus downwelling KWs. From a predictive point of view, we show that KW amplitudes observed in the mid-Pacific can be used to forecast which system state will dominate the HCS over the next 2–6 months. Such predictions should be integrated in the Peruvian adaptive fishery management.

The Guajira upwelling system

The coastal upwelled waters of the Guajira coast, the most northerly peninsula of South America, were studied on the basis of historical data bases, remotely sensed data, and three oceanographic cruises. The Guajira Peninsula is the locus of particularly strong upwelling because it protrudes into the Caribbean Low-Level Wind Jet and its west coast parallels the direction of the strongest winds. The year-round upwelling varies with the wind forcing: strongest in December–March and July, and weakest in the October–November rainy season. The east–west temperature, salinity and density front that delimits the upwelling lies over the shelf edge in the east of the peninsula but separates from the south-westward trending topography to the west. A coastal westward surface jet geostrophically adjusted to the upwelling flows along the front, and an eastward sub-surface counterflow is trapped against the Guajira continental slope. The undercurrent shoals toward the western limit of the upwelling, Santa Marta, beyond which point it extends to the surface. Some of the westward jet re-circulates inshore with the counterflow but part continues directly west to form an upwelling filament. Much of the mesoscale variation is associated with upwelling filaments, which expel cooler, chlorophyll-rich coastal upwelling waters westward and northward into the Caribbean Sea. Freshwater plumes from the Magdalena and Orinoco rivers influence the area strongly, and outflow from Lake Maracaibo interacts directly with upwelled waters off Guajira. Another important factor is the Aeolian input of dust from the Guajira desert by episodes of offshore winds.

하계 대한해협 저층냉수의 물리.화학적인 특성 및 기원

Hydrographic survey in the Korea Strait has long history that has begun in August 1917 at the Busan - Tsushima cross section, still continues to date. However, chemical properties of bottom cold water found exclusively in the western channel of the Korea Strait during summer did not receive much scientific attention. The aim of the study is to decipher the enigmatic origin of the Korea Strait Bottom Cold Water (KSBCW) in terms of chemical properties. The physicochemical properties of the KSBCW are extracted from the CREAHS II hydrographic data. OMP method was applied to analyze origin of the KSBCW quantitatively. The KSBCW is well defined by low temperature below . The cold waters exhibited the local presence near the coast at about 120m depth with a thickness of 20m to 30m. The cold water was characterized by relatively cold, saline and higher chemical concentrations than adjacent waters. The KSBCW seems to have different origin kom that of the coastal upwelled waters at the Ulgi-Gampo because it is saline, denser and contains considerably less dissolved oxygen than upwelled waters. The physicochemical properties are reported to have noticeable annual variations which suggest the complex origin of the KSBCW. OMP analysis show that the KSBCW is a mixture of three water types; TMW (24%), ESIW (36%) and ESPW (40%). Relationship between the KSBCW and the east Sea circulation is traced by mapping the water masses that have similar T, S and DO of KSBCW. The result showed that the KSBCW is most possibly an extension of southward flowing coastal intermediate waters. Front these results, we expect that the monitoring KSBCW will provide us valuable information about the East Sea circulation.

Iron, macronutrients and diatom blooms in the Peru upwelling regime: brown and blue waters of Peru

Surface water transects and vertical profiles for dissolved iron, macronutrients, chlorophyll a (Chl a), and hydrographic data were obtained in the Peru upwelling regime during August and September 2000. The supply of the micronutrient iron, relative to that of the macronutrients nitrate, phosphate and silicic acid, is shown to play a critical role in allowing extensive diatom blooms to develop in the Peru upwelling system. The extremely high-chlorophyll “brown waters of Peru” (with Chl a concentrations between 20 and 45 μg/l) result from massive diatom blooms with maximal photochemical efficiencies ( F v/ F m >0.6) occurring in the iron-rich upwelling region observed over the broad continental shelf off northern and central Peru. The source of the upwelled water in this region is the nutrient-rich subsurface countercurrent in contact with the organic-rich shelf sediments. This subsurface shelf water is suboxic and has extremely high concentrations of dissolved Fe (>50 nM) in the near-bottom waters. In marked contrast, relatively low-chlorophyll “blue waters” (Chl a <2 μg/l) with low concentrations of dissolved Fe (<0.1 nM) and high unutilized macronutrient concentrations are observed in the coastal upwelled waters along the southern coast of Peru and in the offshore regions of the Peru Current. Southern Peru is a region without a wide shelf to serve as a source of iron and, as a result, dissolved Fe concentrations in the near-bottom suboxic waters of this region are an order-of-magnitude lower than observed off northern and central Peru. In addition, the offshore Peru Current is a broad, Fe-limited, high-nitrate, lower than expected chlorophyll region extending hundreds of kilometers offshore into the northeast region of the South Pacific subtropical gyre and northwestward into the South Equatorial Pacific.

Temporal and spatial variability in export production in the SE Pacific Ocean: evidence from siliceous plankton fluxes and surface sediment assemblages

Flux of siliceous plankton and taxonomic composition of diatom and silicoflagellate assemblages were determined from sediment trap samples collected in coastal upwelling-influenced waters off northern Chile (30°S, CH site) under “normal” or non-El Niño (1993–94) and El Niño conditions (1997–98). In addition, concentration of biogenic opal and siliceous plankton, and diatom and silicoflagellate assemblages preserved in surface sediments are provided for a wide area between 27° and 43°S off Chile. Regardless of the year, winter upwelling determines the maximum production pattern of siliceous microorganisms, with diatoms numerically dominating the biogenic opal flux. During the El Niño year the export is markedly lower: on an annual basis, total mass flux diminished by 60%, and diatom and silicoflagellate export by 75%. Major components of the diatom flora maintain much of their regular seasonal cycle of flux maxima and minima during both sampling periods. Neritic resting spores (RS) of Chaetoceros dominate the diatom flux, mirroring the influence of coastal-upwelled waters at the CH trap site. Occurrence of pelagic diatoms species Fragilariopsis doliolus, members of the Rhizosoleniaceae, Azpeitia spp. and Nitzschia interruptestriata, secondary components of the assemblage, reflects the intermingling of warmer waters of the Subtropical Gyre. Dictyocha messanensis dominates the silicoflagellate association almost year-around, but Distephanus pulchra delivers ca. 60% of its annual production in less than three weeks during the winter peak. The siliceous thanatocoenosis is largely dominated by diatoms, whose assemblage shows significant qualitative and quantitative variations from north to south. Between 27° and 35°S, the dominance of RS Chaetoceros, Thalassionema nitzschioides var. nitzschioides and Skeletonema costatum reflects strong export production associated with occurrence of coastal upwelling. Both highest biogenic opal content and diatom concentration at 35° and 41°–43°S coincide with highest pigment concentrations along the Chilean coast. Predominance of the diatom species Thalassiosira pacifica and T. poro- irregulata, and higher relative contribution of the silicoflagellate Distephanus speculum at 41°–43°S suggest the influence of more nutrient-rich waters and low sea surface temperatures, probably associated with the Antarctic Circumpolar Water.

Photosynthesis–irradiance parameters and community structure associated with coastal filaments and adjacent waters in the northern Arabian Sea

Comparisons were made among size-fractionated photosynthesis-irradiance ( P- E) parameters, chlorophyll a size distributions, and accessory pigment composition of natural phytoplankton assemblages in filaments, coastal upwelling waters, and an oligotrophic region of the northern Arabian Sea during the Fall Intermonsoon in 1995. Differences between P- E parameters, P B max and α B, were observed between filaments and adjacent waters and were associated with differences in phytoplankton community structure. In a southern filament and coastal upwelled waters, the majority of the estimated biomass (chlorophyll a) was present in the larger (2–20 and 20–200 μm) size fractions; dominant accessory pigments were 19′-butanoyloxyfucoxanthin and peridinin. In higher salinity waters, high percentages of chlorophyll a and lutein/zeaxanthin were observed in the smallest size-fraction (<2 μm). Whole water values of P B max ranged from 1.77 to 2.31 (g C g chl a −1 h −1) when the majority of the biomass was in the largest fractions. Higher values (more than 4.48 g C g chl a −1 h −1) were determined in whole water samples for communities comprised primarily of small cells. A size dependence was also observed in the value of α B, 0.017 or greater (g C g chl a −1 h −1)/(μmol quanta m −2 s −1) for whole water samples at stations dominated by small cells and 0.013 when derived from stations dominated by large cells. The observed pattern of larger phytoplankton associated with upwelling and filament waters was consistent with previous investigations and was, for the most part, comparable to findings in the California Current system. Our results show that differences in taxonomic composition and photosynthetic characteristics were indeed present between filament waters and other distinct regions; these results suggest that taxonomic variations may be associated with size-related variations in P- E parameters. Our findings provide a unique data set describing filament biology in the northern Arabian Sea during the Fall Intermonsoon thus adding important details in efforts to model biogeochemical processes in this region.

Short-term pCO 2 and O 2 dynamics in California coastal waters

We studied short-term pCO 2 and O 2 variability in surface waters 30 km off Monterey, California from April to May 1995. Sensors for pCO 2 and O 2 were deployed for 19 days on the manned research platform, R/P FLIP. The sensors were located at 5, 10 and 31 m depths. The 31 m sensors resided below or within the thermocline, and the 5 and 10 m sensors were within the surface mixed layer during the field study. The area was characterized by surface pCO 2 undersaturation and O 2 supersaturation during the entire period. The average pCO 2 levels at 5, 10, and 31 m, were 323±18, 326±19, and 452±63 μatm, respectively. Much of the short term variability was related to thermocline movement and advection of offshore and coastal upwelled waters around the site. Rates of gas exchange and primary production were determined during periods when advection did not appear to dominate the variability. Air-sea gas exchange models predict an observed decline in O 2 supersaturation. Rapid air-sea reequilibration of O 2 relative to pCO 2 appears to have a significant effect on the pCO 2 : O 2 relationship. Primary production estimates based on CO 2 and O 2 rates of change match well with shipboard 14C primary production.

Model‐validated parametrization for air‐sea gas transfer in the North Indian Ocean

Mixed‐layer CFC‐11 saturations measured in the northwestern Indian Ocean during the 1995 World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) along I7N are compared to those from a numerical model using three alternative parametrizations for the air‐sea flux of CFC‐11. The Wanninkhof [1992] gas flux parametrization for climatological winds gives gas saturations which agree best with those observed. The observed and model mixed‐layers are in equilibrium with the contemporary atmosphere to within 1% (the experimental error) in the summer of 1995, excluding cold coastal upwelled waters. When the model is used to extend the space and time scales of the observations in the Arabian Sea, widespread supersaturations of 5% due to weak winds and warming are predicted in the spring and fall, and under saturations of 5% due to mixing in the winter. The model validation of CFC‐11 transfer parametrization and investigation of temporal and spatial variability in saturation are applicable to the physically‐forced saturation variations of carbon dioxide and other gases of interest.