Eddy-induced cross-shelf phytoplankton transport along the downwelling coast off Western Australia

摘要

Along the downwelling coast off Western Australia, late-austral-autumn/early-austral-winter chlorophyll a blooms are observed on the continental shelf south of the Shark Bay (26° S). The late-austral-autumn/early-austral-winter blooms are in phase with seasonal strengthening of the Leeuwin Current and its eddy field. From satellite altimeter and ocean color data , anticyclonic eddies are found to entrain the high phytoplankton biomass waters from the shelf and transport them offshore into the oligotrophic, subtropical marine environment. The late-austral-autumn/early-austral-winter blooms are highly linked with enhanced horizontal mixing by mesoscale eddies in the region, as derived from the finite-size Lyapunov exponent (FSLE) of the surface geostrophic flow field obtained from satellite altimeter data. The pathways of cross-shelf exchanges, which are mostly driven by the mesoscale eddies, are revealed with coalescing of the FSLE of the surface geostrophic flow field and the satellite chlorophyll a images.