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Contains fulltext : 173599.pdf (preprint version ) (Open Access)

Contains fulltext : 159692.pdf (preprint version ) (Open Access)

Coastal marine ecosystems are profoundly influenced by processes that originate from their boundaries. These include fluid boundaries-with the atmosphere, oceanic boundary currents and terrestrial aquatic systems, as well as solid boundaries-with the seafloor and coast. Phytoplankton populations transfer complexly interacting boundary influences into the biosphere. In this contribution, we apply data from an ocean observing and modeling system to examine boundary influences driving phytoplankton ecology in Monterey Bay, CA, USA. The study was focused on species that may cause harmful algal blooms (HABs). During September-October 2010, autonomous molecular analytical devices were moored at two locations characterized by different degrees of stratification and exposure to upwelling dynamics. The time-series revealed multiple transitions in local HAB phytoplankton communities, involving diatoms (Pseudo-nitzschia spp.), dinoflagellates (Alexandrium catenella), and raphidophytes (Heterosigma akashiwo). Observational and model results showed that the biological transitions were closely related to environmental changes that resulted from a variety of boundary processes-responses of oceanic circulation to wind forcing, influxes of different water types that originated outside the bay, and emergence of strongly stratified nearshore water into the greater bay. Boundary processes were further implicated at patch scales. High-resolution mapping and sampling of a phytoplankton-enriched patch were conducted in a Lagrangian framework using autonomous underwater vehicles. These highly resolved measurements showed that small-scale spatial patterns in the toxicity of Pseudo-nitzschia populations were related to the coupling of resuspended sediments from the bottom boundary layer to the surface mixed layer. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

The physical, chemical and biological perturbations in central California waters associated with the strong 1997–1998 El Niño are described and explained on the basis of time series collected from ships, moorings, tide gauges and satellites. The evolution of El Niño off California closely followed the pattern observed in the tropical Pacific. In June 1997 an anomalous influx of warm southerly waters, with weak signatures on coastal sea level and thermocline depth, marked the onset of El Niño in central California. The timing was consistent with propagation from the tropics via the equatorial and coastal wave-guide. By late 1997, the classical stratified ocean condition with a deep thermocline, high sea level, and warm sea surface temperature (SST) commonly associated with El Niño dominated the coastal zone. During the first half of 1998 the core of the California Current, which is normally detected several hundred kilometers from shore as a river of low salinity, low nutrient water, was hugging the coast. High nutrient, productive waters that occur in a north–south band from the coast to approximately 200 km offshore during cool years disappeared during El Niño. The nitrate in surface waters was less than 20% of normal and new production was reduced by close to 70%. The La Niña recovery phase began in the fall of 1998 when SSTs dropped below normal, and ocean productivity rebounded to higher than normal levels. The reduction in coastal California primary productivity associated with El Niño was estimated to be 50 million metric tons of carbon (5 × 1013gC). This reduction certainly had deleterious effects on zooplankton, fish, and marine mammals. The 1992–1993 El Niño was more moderate than the 1997–1998 event, but because its duration was longer, its overall chemical and biological impact may have been comparable. How strongly the ecosystem responds to El Niño appears related to the longer-term background climatic state of the Pacific Ocean. The 1982–1983 and 1992–1