Articles | Volume 20, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-20-293-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-20-293-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
14 Mar 2024
Research article |
| 14 Mar 2024
| 14 Mar 2024
Fjord circulation permits a persistent subsurface water mass in a long, deep mid-latitude inlet
Laura Bianucci
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Institute of Ocean Sciences, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Sidney, BC, Canada
Jennifer M. Jackson
Institute of Ocean Sciences, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Sidney, BC, Canada
Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Susan E. Allen
Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Maxim V. Krassovski
Institute of Ocean Sciences, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Sidney, BC, Canada
Ian J. W. Giesbrecht
Hakai Institute, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Wendy C. Callendar
Institute of Ocean Sciences, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Sidney, BC, Canada
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Krysten Rutherford, Laura Bianucci, and William Floyd
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 6083–6104, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6083-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6083-2024, 2024
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Nearshore ocean models often lack complete information about freshwater fluxes due to numerous ungauged rivers and streams. We tested a simple rain-based hydrological model as inputs into an ocean model of Quatsino Sound, Canada, with the aim of improving the representation of the land–ocean connection in the nearshore model. Through multiple tests, we found that the performance of the ocean model improved when providing 60 % or more of the freshwater inputs from the simple runoff model.
Krysten Rutherford, Laura Bianucci, and William Floyd
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 6083–6104, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6083-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6083-2024, 2024
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Nearshore ocean models often lack complete information about freshwater fluxes due to numerous ungauged rivers and streams. We tested a simple rain-based hydrological model as inputs into an ocean model of Quatsino Sound, Canada, with the aim of improving the representation of the land–ocean connection in the nearshore model. Through multiple tests, we found that the performance of the ocean model improved when providing 60 % or more of the freshwater inputs from the simple runoff model.
Pedro Figueroa, Gonzalo Saldías, and Susan Allen
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2386, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2386, 2024
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Submarine canyons are topographic features found along the continental slope worldwide. Here we use numerical simulations to study how a submarine canyon influences the circulation near the coast when winds moving poleward influence the region. Our results show that submarine canyons modify the circulation near the coast, causing strong velocities perpendicular to the coast. These changes can trap particles inside the canyon, an important mechanism to explain its role as a biological hotspot.
Tereza Jarníková, Elise M. Olson, Susan E. Allen, Debby Ianson, and Karyn D. Suchy
Ocean Sci., 18, 1451–1475, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-18-1451-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-18-1451-2022, 2022
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Understanding drivers of phytoplankton biomass in dynamic coastal regions is key to predicting present and future ecosystem functioning. Using a clustering-based method, we objectively determined biophysical provinces in a complex estuarine sea. The Salish Sea contains three major distinct provinces where phytoplankton dynamics are controlled by diverse stratification regimes. Our method is simple to implement and broadly applicable for identifying structure in large model-derived datasets.
Maartje C. Korver, Emily Haughton, William C. Floyd, and Ian J. W. Giesbrecht
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 4231–4250, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4231-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4231-2022, 2022
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The central coastline of the northeast Pacific coastal temperate rainforest contains many small streams that are important for the ecology of the region but are sparsely monitored. Here we present the first 5 years (2013–2019) of streamflow and weather data from seven small streams, using novel automated methods with estimations of measurement uncertainties. These observations support regional climate change monitoring and provide a scientific basis for environmental management decisions.
Ben Moore-Maley and Susan E. Allen
Ocean Sci., 18, 143–167, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-18-143-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-18-143-2022, 2022
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Inland seas are critical habitats for globally important fisheries, and the local food webs that support these fisheries are often limited by surface nutrient availability. In the Strait of Georgia, which supports several key northern Pacific fisheries, we identify wind-driven upwelling as a dominant source of summer surface nutrients using a high-resolution coupled ecosystem model. This newly identified underlying mechanism will inform interpretations of ecosystem variability in the region.
Kyra A. St. Pierre, Brian P. V. Hunt, Suzanne E. Tank, Ian Giesbrecht, Maartje C. Korver, William C. Floyd, Allison A. Oliver, and Kenneth P. Lertzman
Biogeosciences, 18, 3029–3052, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3029-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3029-2021, 2021
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Using 4 years of paired freshwater and marine water chemistry from the Central Coast of British Columbia (Canada), we show that coastal temperate rainforest streams are sources of organic nitrogen, iron, and carbon to the Pacific Ocean but not the inorganic nutrients easily used by marine phytoplankton. This distinction may have important implications for coastal food webs and highlights the need to sample all nutrients in fresh and marine waters year-round to fully understand coastal dynamics.
Benjamin L. Moore-Maley, Debby Ianson, and Susan E. Allen
Biogeosciences, 15, 3743–3760, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-3743-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-3743-2018, 2018
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Estuaries are vulnerable to ocean acidification, but present-day estuarine pH and aragonite saturation state variability are larger than in the open ocean. Using a numerical model of a large estuary and data from its primary river, we find that changes in river alkalinity relative to river carbon may determine a small but significant portion of this variability, while the majority is controlled by photosynthesis/respiration. Future watershed changes may shift the river alkalinity–carbon balance.
Allison A. Oliver, Suzanne E. Tank, Ian Giesbrecht, Maartje C. Korver, William C. Floyd, Paul Sanborn, Chuck Bulmer, and Ken P. Lertzman
Biogeosciences, 14, 3743–3762, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-3743-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-3743-2017, 2017
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Rivers draining small watersheds of the outer coastal Pacific temperate rainforest export some of the highest yields of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the world directly to the ocean. This DOC is largely derived from soils and terrestrial plants. Rainfall, temperature, and watershed characteristics such as wetlands and lakes are important controls on DOC export. This region may be significant for carbon export and linking terrestrial carbon to marine ecosystems.
J. M. Spurgin and S. E. Allen
Ocean Sci., 10, 799–819, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-10-799-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-10-799-2014, 2014
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Short summary
While the deeper waters in the coastal ocean show signs of climate-change-induced warming and deoxygenation, some fjords can keep cool and oxygenated waters in the subsurface. We use a model to investigate how these subsurface waters created during winter can linger all summer in Bute Inlet, Canada. We found two main mechanisms that make this fjord retentive: the typical slow subsurface circulation in such a deep, long fjord and the further speed reduction when the cold waters are present.
While the deeper waters in the coastal ocean show signs of climate-change-induced warming and...
