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    Effects of oceanic mesoscale and submesoscale frontal processes on the vertical transport of phytoplankton

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    Article (6.199Mb)
    Supporting_Information_S1 (6.973Mb)
    Date
    2019-07-23
    Author
    Ruiz, Simon  Concept link
    Claret, Mariona  Concept link
    Pascual, Ananda  Concept link
    Olita, Antonio  Concept link
    Troupin, Charles  Concept link
    Capet, Arthur  Concept link
    Tovar-Sánchez, Antonio  Concept link
    Allen, John T.  Concept link
    Poulain, Pierre Marie  Concept link
    Tintoré, Joaquín  Concept link
    Mahadevan, Amala  Concept link
    Metadata
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    Citable URI
    https://hdl.handle.net/1912/25296
    As published
    https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JC015034
    DOI
    10.1029/2019JC015034
    Keyword
     vertical motion; ocean front; mesoscale; submesoscale; transport; phytoplankton 
    Abstract
    Oceanic fronts are dynamically active regions of the global ocean that support upwelling and downwelling with significant implications for phytoplankton production and export. However (on time scales urn:x-wiley:jgrc:media:jgrc23568:jgrc23568-math-0001 the inertial time scale), the vertical velocity is 103–104 times weaker than the horizontal velocity and is difficult to observe directly. Using intensive field observations in conjunction with a process study ocean model, we examine vertical motion and its effect on phytoplankton fluxes at multiple spatial horizontal scales in an oligotrophic region in the Western Mediterranean Sea. The mesoscale ageostrophic vertical velocity (∼10 m/day) inferred from our observations shapes the large‐scale phytoplankton distribution but does not explain the narrow (1–10 km wide) features of high chlorophyll content extending 40–60 m downward from the deep chlorophyll maximum. Using modeling, we show that downwelling submesoscale features concentrate 80% of the downward vertical flux of phytoplankton within just 15% of the horizontal area. These submesoscale spatial structures serve as conduits between the surface mixed layer and pycnocline and can contribute to exporting carbon from the sunlit surface layers to the ocean interior.
    Description
    Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2019. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans 124(8), (2019): 5999-6014, doi: 10.1029/2019JC015034.
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    • Physical Oceanography (PO)
    Suggested Citation
    Ruiz, S., Claret, M., Pascual, A., Olita, A., Troupin, C., Capet, A., Tovar-Sanchez, A., Allen, J., Poulain, P., Tintore, J., & Mahadevan, A. (2019). Effects of oceanic mesoscale and submesoscale frontal processes on the vertical transport of phytoplankton. Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans, 124(8), 5999-6014.
     

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