Record Details

Injection of carbon from the shelf to offshore beneath the euphoic zone in the California Current

ScholarsArchive at Oregon State University

Field Value
Title Injection of carbon from the shelf to offshore beneath the euphoic zone in the California Current
Names Barth, John A. (creator)
Cowles, Timothy J. (creator)
Kosro, P. Michael, 1951- (creator)
Shearman, R. Kipp (creator)
Huyer, Adriana, 1945- (creator)
Smith, Robert L. (Robert Lloyd), 1935- (creator)
Date Issued 2002 (iso8601)
Note copyrighted by American Geophysical Union
Abstract High concentrations of chlorophyll are found in the California Current System over
300 km offshore, far from the productive coastal upwelling region, and between 150 and
250 m, well below the depth to which photosynthetically active solar radiation penetrates.
This exceptionally deep chlorophyll feature is formed near the coast and transported
offshore in the meandering California Current jet. Chlorophyll is forced downward along
sloping density surfaces through conservation of potential vorticity along the meandering
jet path. Thus mesoscale physical dynamics serve to inject large amounts of carbon, e.g.,
2400 t as reported here, per event from regions of active coastal upwelling into the
adjacent deep ocean, a process that must be considered when computing oceanic carbon
budgets.
Genre Article
Identifier Barth, J. A., Cowles, T. J., Kosro, P. M., Shearman, R. K., Huyer, A., and Smith, R. L., 2002, Injection of carbon from the shelf to offshore beneath the euphotic zone in the California Current, J. Geophys. Res., v. 107(C6), p. 3,057.

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