How the Kuroshio Current Delivers Nutrients to Sunlit Layers on the Continental Shelves With Aid of Near‐Inertial Waves and Turbulence
2019; American Geophysical Union; Volume: 46; Issue: 12 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1029/2019gl082680
ISSN1944-8007
AutoresTakeyoshi Nagai, Gloria Silvana Durán, Diego André Otero, Yasutaka Mori, Naoki Yoshie, Kazuki Ohgi, Daisuke Hasegawa, Ayako Nishina, Toru Kobari,
Tópico(s)Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
ResumoAbstract The Kuroshio Current carries a large amount of nutrients in dark subsurface layer along the southern coast of Japan. However, due to lack of sufficient multidisciplinary high‐resolution observations, it has been unclear whether and how the subsurface nutrients are injected to sunlit layers on the continental shelf. In this study, using a state‐of‐the‐art tow‐yo microstructure profiler and nitrate measurements, we show that the Kuroshio flowing on the shelfbreak induces very strong turbulent dissipation rate ∼O(10 −7 W·kg −1 ) and diffusivity ∼O(10 −3 m 2 ·s −1 ) over an across frontal scale of 20–30 km. This strong turbulence could provide a diffusive nitrate flux to euphotic zone of >O(1 mmol N·m −2 ·day −1 ). As the Kuroshio steadily runs on the continental shelves along the path, the nutrient injection found in this study is a very important supply for biological production on the continental margin along the southern coast of Japan.
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