Record Details

Intermediate nepheloid layers observed off Oregon and Washington

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Field Value
Title Intermediate nepheloid layers observed off Oregon and Washington
Names Pak, Hasong (creator)
Zaneveld, J. Ronald (creator)
Kitchen, J. (creator)
Date Issued 1980-11-20 (iso8601)
Note Copyrighted by American Geophysical Union.
Abstract Two distinct kinds of particle maxima (nepheloid layers) were observed off Oregon in November 1977
and off Washington in October 1978 by an in situ light transmissometer: one in the thermocline in the
euphotic zone and the other at intermediate depth well below the thermocline. The thermocline nepheloid
layer is associated with well-defined maxima of dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll-a, and phaeophytin,
and these associations suggest that the nepheloid layer is primarily composed of phytoplankton undergoing
active photosynthesis. The intermediate nepheloid layer is found in connection with the bottom
waters near the shelf break and shares some of the characteristic properties of the bottom water: high
concentration of suspended particles, low concentrations of dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll-a, and
phaeophytin. The particle size distributions in the intermediate nepheloid layer are different from those
in the clear water above the nepheloid layer but similar to those in the bottom nepheloid layer. Two hypotheses for
the generation of intermediate nepheloid layers, settling and horizontal advection, are examined,
and the data support the latter hypothesis.
Genre Article
Identifier Pak, H., J. Zaneveld, and J. Kitchen (1980), Intermediate nepheloid layers observed off Oregon and Washington, J. Geophys. Res., 85(C11), 6697-6708.

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