How does upwelling and gyres impact California and its coastal area?
How does upwelling and gyres impact California and its coastal area?
The upwelling further cools the already cool California Current. This is the mechanism that produces California’s characteristic coastal fog and cool ocean waters. As a result, ocean surf temperatures are much colder along the Pacific coast than the Atlantic coast.
Where is upwelling strongest?
Areas where the continental shelf is narrow and drops steeply to the deep ocean have more intense upwelling than areas with more gradual continental shelves that reach the deep ocean farther from shore.
How is upwelling affected by climate change?
At regional scales, especially in coastal upwelling systems, the ecosystem response to surface warming becomes more complex. It is hypothesized that global warming will enhance land–sea temperature gradients that in turn will increase upwelling favorable winds (i.e., the Bakun hypothesis)10.
Where is coastal upwelling?
Worldwide, there are five major coastal currents associated with upwelling areas: the Canary Current (off Northwest Africa), the Benguela Current (off southern Africa), the California Current (off California and Oregon), the Humboldt Current (off Peru and Chile), and the Somali Current (off Somalia and Oman).
Where does upwelling occur in California?
Upwelling centers located north and south of Monterey Bay (see Figure 3) are the primary source of cool, nutrient-rich water in the sanctuary.
Why is there upwelling along the California coast?
They tend to move water toward the equator, and they are prone to strong upwelling. That’s because an ocean current moving from north to south along a west coast is pulled away from the shore by Earth’s rotation (the Coriolis effect), leaving a void that allows deep water to fill in behind.
Does upwelling occur in California?
More species of kelps and marine mammals exist here than anywhere else in the world. By contrast, one of the strongest regions of upwelling along the California coast is located south and west of Pt.
Why does California have upwelling?
How does an El Niño climate event affect upwelling?
During normal conditions, upwelling brings water from the depths to the surface; this water is cold and nutrient rich. During El Niño, upwelling weakens or stops altogether. Without the nutrients from the deep, there are fewer phytoplankton off the coast.
How do coastal upwelling zones affect climate and ecology?
With upwelling intensification, ocean acidity will rise, affecting organisms with carbonate structures. Regardless of changes in upwelling, near-surface stratification, turbulent diffusion rates, source water origins, and perhaps thermocline depths associated with large-scale climate episodes (ENSO) maybe affected.
How does the California Current cause an upwelling?
Why does upwelling occur on west coast?
Seasonal upwelling and downwelling also occur along the West Coast of the United States. In winter, winds blow from the south to the north, resulting in downwelling. During the summer, winds blow from the north to the south, and water moves offshore, resulting in upwelling along the coast.
