A new study finds that phytoplankton blooms, often seen near the separation point of western boundary currents, are supported by nutrient supply upwelling and cross-shelf transport.
Takeyoshi Nagai
Editor, Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Nutrients at Depth Can Be Uplifted by the Kuroshio Large Meander
Aperiodic, southward deflection of the Kuroshio, a.k.a. the Kuroshio large meander, uplifts the nutrients in deep layers to induce offshore phytoplankton bloom.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
ENSO Variations Modulate the Kuroshio in the East China Sea
Recent warm El Niño Southern Oscillation events strengthened winds over the western Subtropical North Pacific, leading to planetary waves with cyclonic eddies, weakening the Kuroshio in the East China Sea.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Do Ocean Currents Mix Water Vertically or Stir Laterally?
Observations of temperature and salinity distributions across the Brazil-Malvinas Confluence reveal the importance of small-scale mixing processes for water mass modification.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Pulses of Coastal Upwelling Generate Phytoplankton
Phytoplankton patches at an ocean front in the California Current System are found to originate from different coastal upwelling pulses.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Bio-Argo Floats Reveal Phytoplankton Increase at Ocean Fronts
Bio-Argo floats and satellite altimeter data reveal that upwelling caused by confluent flow on the warm side of ocean fronts increases phytoplankton carbon and chlorophyll.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Gulf Stream Closes the Valve of the Labrador Current
Virtual particles released in the Labrador Current revealed that the westward penetration of the current into the shelf seas is inhibited by warm core rings emanating from the Gulf Stream.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Weakened Kuroshio Slows Down the Ryukyu Current
A combination of the weakened Kuroshio in the Tokara Strait and an increase in anticyclonic eddies led to the slowdown of the Ryukyu Current from 1993 to 2018.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
How do Bob and Tom Eddies Meet, Pair-Spin, and Twist?
Autonomous float data reveal that mergers of two eddies, known to have spiraling subducting water surrounding each other, happens more frequently than previously thought.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Two Kinds of Warm Core Rings Emanate From the Gulf Stream
A new study reveals that long-lived warm core rings found in the “Ring Corridor”, a narrow path north of the Gulf Stream, have two different formation mechanisms.