Journal of Oceanography

, Volume 66, Issue 3, pp 319–328 | Cite as

Impact of Alaskan Stream eddies on chlorophyll distribution in the North Pacific

  • Hiromichi Ueno
  • William R. Crawford
  • Hiroji Onishi
Article
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Abstact

The impact of the Alaskan Stream (AS) eddies on the chlorophyll a (chl-a) distribution in the central subarctic North Pacific was investigated through analysis of chl-a and altimetry data from satellite observations. Altimetry observations provided the locations of mesoscale eddies in time and space within the maps of chlorophyll distributions. The climatological chl-a distributions averaged in the area and time showing presence of AS eddies suggested that AS eddies contributed significantly to the chl-a distribution in the deep-sea region of the subarctic North Pacific. The chl-a distribution was closely related to the AS eddies regardless of whether the eddy was located in or detached from the AS. A combination of two or three AS eddies sometimes formed high chl-a concentration belts that injected chlorophyll and coastal nutrient-rich waters southward from the Aleutian Islands far into the deep-sea region of the subarctic North Pacific. These results indicate that chl-a distribution in the central subarctic North Pacific was strongly impacted by AS eddies.

Keywords

Alaskan Stream mesoscale eddies chlorophyll-a North Pacific sea level anomaly 
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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010

Authors and Affiliations

  • Hiromichi Ueno
    • 1
  • William R. Crawford
    • 2
  • Hiroji Onishi
    • 3
  1. 1.Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and TechnologyYokosuka, KanagawaJapan
  2. 2.Institute of Ocean SciencesFisheries and Oceans CanadaSidneyCanada
  3. 3.Graduate School of Fisheries ScienceHokkaido UniversityHakodateJapan

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