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    Regional impact of submarine canyons during seasonal upwelling

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    Date
    2014-02-12
    Author
    Connolly, Thomas P.  Concept link
    Hickey, Barbara M.  Concept link
    Metadata
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    Citable URI
    https://hdl.handle.net/1912/6726
    As published
    https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JC009452
    DOI
    10.1002/2013JC009452
    Keyword
     Submarine canyon; California Current; Coastal upwelling; Shelf-slope exchange; Numerical model; Particle tracking 
    Abstract
    A numerical model of the northern California Current System along the coasts of Washington and British Columbia is used to quantify the impact of submarine canyons on upwelling from the continental slope onto the shelf. Comparisons with an extensive set of observations show that the model adequately represents the seasonal development of near-bottom density, as well as along-shelf currents that are critical in governing shelf-slope exchange. Additional model runs with simplified coastlines and bathymetry are used to isolate the effects of submarine canyons. Near submarine canyons, equatorward flow over the outer shelf is correlated with dense water at canyon heads and subsequent formation of closed cyclonic eddies, which are both associated with cross-shelf ageostrophic forces. Lagrangian particles tracked from the slope to midshelf show that canyons are associated with upwelling from depths of ∼140–260 m. Source depths for upwelling are shallower than 150 m at locations away from canyons and in a model run with bathymetry that is uniform in the along-shelf direction. Water upwelled through canyons is more likely to be found near the bottom over the shelf. Onshore fluxes of relatively saline water through submarine canyons are large enough to increase volume-averaged salinity over the shelf by 0.1–0.2 psu during the early part of the upwelling season. The nitrate input from the slope to the Washington shelf associated with canyons is estimated to be 30–60% of that upwelled to the euphotic zone by local wind-driven upwelling.
    Description
    Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2014. 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 119 (2014): 953-975, doi:10.1002/2013JC009452.
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    • Physical Oceanography (PO)
    Suggested Citation
    Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 119 (2014): 953-975
     

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