Upper ocean water properties and currents along paired sections in the Northern California current, summer 1998-2003

Abstract

As part of the U. S. GLOBEC NorthEast Pacific Program we made repeated seasonal hydrographic surveys in the northern California Current system between July 1997 and September 2003. These surveys included sampling along a pair of hydrographic sections, one north (at 44.6ºN) and one south (at 41.9ºN) of Cape Blanco in five summers (1998-2000 and 2002-2003). The coastal upwelling region associated with the California Current experiences maximum upwelling during summer, and upwelling is usually stronger at 42ºN than at 45ºN. One purpose of this report is to show differences and similarities between the coastal upwelling domains north and south of Cape Blanco. We present graphical summaries of the physical oceanographic and biochemical observations along both sections, principally in the form of zonal sections (0-160 km from shore, 0-150 m depth). We also show offshore profiles of a few selected properties, and some characteristic diagrams (T-S, oxygen-S, etc.).