Editors’ Highlights are summaries of recent papers by AGU’s journal editors.
Source: Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans
Warm western boundary currents play a role in lateral transport of heat, salt, and biogeochemical tracers, including nutrients. When these poleward western boundary currents separate from the coast to the east, they seem to drag biologically productive water from near shore regions to offshore. Cross-shelf lateral flows have, therefore, been considered a cause of offshore phytoplankton blooms. However, these currents generate and interact with mesoscale eddies after they separate from the coast.
Chapman et al. [2025] conduct a series of high-resolution observations to investigate the importance of vertical water motions induced by meso- and sub-mesoscale flows associated with these mesoscale eddies. The results suggest that secondary circulation caused by eddy flows near fronts along the East Australian Current induces the offshore phytoplankton bloom over 100 kilometers.
Citation: Chapman, C. C., Sloyan, B. M., Schaeffer, A., Suthers, I. M., & Pitt, K. A. (2024). Offshore plankton blooms via mesoscale and sub-mesoscale interactions with a western boundary current. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 129, e2023JC020547. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JC020547
—Takeyoshi Nagai, Editor, JGR: Oceans
Text © 2024. The authors. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
Except where otherwise noted, images are subject to copyright. Any reuse without express permission from the copyright owner is prohibited.
Related
