Articles | Volume 21, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-643-2025
© Author(s) 2025. 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-21-643-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
14 Mar 2025
Research article |
| 14 Mar 2025
| 14 Mar 2025
The influence of a submarine canyon on the wind-driven downwelling circulation over the continental shelf
Pedro A. Figueroa
Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad del Bío-Bío, Concepción, Chile
Gonzalo S. Saldías
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad del Bío-Bío, Concepción, Chile
Centro de Investigación Oceanográfica COPAS Coastal, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile
Susan E. Allen
Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Related authors
Macarena Díaz-Astudillo, Manuel Castillo, Pedro A. Figueroa, Leonardo R. Castro, Ramiro Riquelme-Bugueño, Iván Pérez-Santos, Oscar Pizarro, and Gonzalo S. Saldías
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-417, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-417, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Ocean Science (OS).
Short summary
Short summary
Submarine canyons are known hotspots of marine productivity and biodiversity, but we don’t fully understand why. We studied a submarine canyon located in central Chile and found that it’s a highly dynamic environment in both space and time. We think that the alternating currents and the contrasting distribution of zooplankton within the canyon might interact to promote zooplankton retention. Our results help to explain why submarine canyons host such high zooplankton diversity and abundance.
Macarena Díaz-Astudillo, Manuel Castillo, Pedro A. Figueroa, Leonardo R. Castro, Ramiro Riquelme-Bugueño, Iván Pérez-Santos, Oscar Pizarro, and Gonzalo S. Saldías
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-417, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-417, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Ocean Science (OS).
Short summary
Short summary
Submarine canyons are known hotspots of marine productivity and biodiversity, but we don’t fully understand why. We studied a submarine canyon located in central Chile and found that it’s a highly dynamic environment in both space and time. We think that the alternating currents and the contrasting distribution of zooplankton within the canyon might interact to promote zooplankton retention. Our results help to explain why submarine canyons host such high zooplankton diversity and abundance.
Laura Bianucci, Jennifer M. Jackson, Susan E. Allen, Maxim V. Krassovski, Ian J. W. Giesbrecht, and Wendy C. Callendar
Ocean Sci., 20, 293–306, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-20-293-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-20-293-2024, 2024
Short summary
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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.
Julio Salcedo-Castro, Antonio Olita, Freddy Saavedra, Gonzalo S. Saldías, Raúl C. Cruz-Gómez, and Cristian D. De la Torre Martínez
Ocean Sci., 19, 1687–1703, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-1687-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-1687-2023, 2023
Short summary
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Considering the relevance and impact of river discharges on the coastal environment, it is necessary to understand the processes associated with river plume dynamics in different regions and at different scales. Modeling studies focused on the eastern Pacific coast under the influence of the Humboldt Current are scarce. Here, we conduct for the first time an interannual modeling study of two river plumes off central Chile and discuss their characteristics.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Submarine canyons are topographic features found along the continental slope worldwide. Here we...
