WHOI PO
Elise Beaudin, Brown - Highways of the sea: How eddies shape offshore productivity
| Date |
Time |
Location |
| February 18th, 2025 |
3:05pm-4:05pm |
Clark 507 |
Title: Highways of the sea: How eddies shape offshore productivity
Abstract: Eddies serve as critical "highways" for nutrient transport into offshore oligotrophic regions, shaping biological productivity in the open ocean. In this talk, I am addressing two ecological hot spots of the Northeast Pacific: the California Current System, and the Gulf of Alaska. Using observational data from the SMODE campaign in April 2023, we investigate the role of a submesoscale eddy in driving surface chlorophyll variability in the offshore oligotrophic region. We find that this eddy acts as a localized ecological niche, sustaining biological activity through eddy trapping and vertical motions, while supporting intense phytoplankton growth and grazing. Submesoscale eddies, therefore, play a role comparable to mesoscale eddies in offshore organic matter transport and must be considered in biogeochemical studies. Building on this, this time focusing on the Gulf of Alaska, we examine how large-scale atmospheric forcing can impact offshore eddy transport. During 2013–2019, the Northeast Pacific has experienced anomalous high SLPa which not only sustained the most extreme marine heatwaves this region has experienced but also altered eddy generation and offshore transport of coastal waters. Both changes in the dynamics and temperature have significant consequences for marine ecosystems. Using a modeling approach, we show a clear correlation between SLPa and eddy variability. These projects aim at improving our understanding of how submesoscale and mesoscale eddies sustain offshore biological productivity, and how external factors that may alter their contributions to offshore productivity.