A Field Study of Surface Nutrient Enrichment in the California Current

Abstract

LONG-TERM GOALS. To use the phenomenon of surface enrichment of inorganic nutrients to better understand the cycling of nutrients and materials and physical mixing history in the surface layers of the ocean. OBJECTIVES. The fall 1996 survey cruise of the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) was the foundation of a field program to describe in detail the spatial and temporal (diel) variability in the surface enrichment of phosphate, silicate, nitrate and nitrite (Haury et al., 1994, Haury and Shulenberger, In Press). The routine CalCOFI observations provided the environmental context within which the measurements of surface enrichment were made. Numerous ancillary programs provided additional contextual data (e.g. optics, phytoplankton pigments, and nutrient dynamics). The work provides the descriptive understanding of surface nutrient enrichment needed to formulate rational hypotheses on its formation and ecological significance.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 30, 1997
Accession Number
ADA635052

Entities

People

  • Loren R. Haury

Organizations

  • Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • California
  • Continents
  • Data Analysis
  • Electronic Mail
  • Geographic Regions
  • High Resolution
  • Information Operations
  • Measurement
  • North America
  • North Pacific Ocean
  • Oceanography
  • Oceans
  • Pacific Ocean
  • Physical Oceanography
  • Phytoplankton
  • Repetition Rate
  • United States

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Aquatic Ecology
  • Marine Ecotoxicology
  • Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Modeling, Data Assimilation, and Flux Boundary Layers