We present the evolution of oceanographic conditions off the western coast of South America between 1996 and 1999, including the cold periods of 1996 and 1998–1999 and the 1997–1998 El Niño, using satellite observations of sea level, winds, sea surface temperature (SST), and chlorophyll concentration. Following a period of cold...
We present a modeling study of the upwelling ocean circulation off central Chile (34°–40°S). Using a primitive equation model, we make a numerical simulation of the ocean circulation for summer of 1993, a year characterized by moderate but persistent equatorward winds. The results indicate the formation of an eastern boundary...
Continuous records of upper water column (0–150 m) temperature profiles, spectral distribution of downwelling irradiance, and phytoplankton solar-induced fluorescence at 25 m depth were obtained during the inaugural deployment of the Hawaii Air-sea Logging Experiment, A Long-term Oligotrophic Habitat Assessment (HALE ALOHA) mooring, near the Hawaii Ocean Time-series (HOT) Station...
Satellite-derived pigment concentrations from the west coast time series (WCTS) are averaged into monthly mean fields over the California Current system (CCS) for the period July 1979 to June 1986. Errors caused by the scattering algorithm used in the WCTS are reduced by an empirical correction function, although winter values...
Satellite data from the Geosat altimeter and the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) are used to show the large-scale structure of the surface circulation of the California Current System in summer. These data show the connection between an equatorward jet and temperature front off Oregon that lies within 100...
Data from Geosat and TOPEX altimeters are used to infer the structure of the Peru-Chile Countercurrent, a jet that flows from at least as far north as 10ºS (historical data suggests 7ºS) to 35º–40ºS, maintaining its position between approximately 100–300 km offshore. Although the annual mean current cannot be determined...
Concurrent satellite-measured chlorophyll (CHL), sea surface temperature (SST), sea level anomaly (SLA) and model-derived wind vectors from the 13+ year SeaWiFS period September 1997 – December 2010 quantify time and space patterns of phytoplankton variability and its links to physical forcing in the Pacific Ocean. The CHL fields are a...
On Oregon coastal rocky shores, filter‐feeders were relatively abundant and macrophytes were relatively scarce at Strawberry Hill, whereas opposite abundance patterns occurred at Boiler Bay. To determine whether nearshore oceanographic differences were associated with these patterns, we made shore‐based measurements of nutrient and Chl a concentrations. We used a three‐level...
We examine large-scale atmospheric behavior around the time of the spring and fall transitions in the coastal ocean off the west coast of North America. Records of adjusted sea level (ASL), coastal wind stress, sea level atmospheric pressure (SLP), and 500-mbar heights for the years 1971-1975 and 1980-1983 are analyzed....
We form a new data set of fields of sea level anomalies by combining gridded daily fields derived from altimeter data with coastal tide gauge data. Within approximately 50-80 km of the coast, the altimeter data are discarded and replaced by a linear interpolation between the tide gauge and remaining...
