NCAR ECSA Workshop on Coastal ZonesJune 2004 Importance of study of coastal zones in the carbon cycle has been explicated by two major carbon science steering documents: The North American Carbon Plan (NACP) [Wofsy et al., 2002] “carbon cycling on the continental margins is poorly understood and is under sampled to the point that it is uncertain whether these regions are a net sink or a net source of CO 2 to the atmosphere.” And from Ocean Carbon & Climate Change [Doney et al., 2004]: “Many basic aspects of the ocean carbon system are inadequately understood…[e.g.,] land-ocean exchange and carbon cycling in the coastal ocean and along continental margins”.

NCAR ECSA Workshop on Coastal ZonesJune 2004 Ship-based studies in the East China Sea [Tsunogai et al., 1999] and off the West Coast of Europe [Frankignoulle et al., 2001] have suggested that the coastal ocean plays a significant role in the global carbon cycle… Frankignoulle et al. estimate the European coastal sink to be almost half as large as that proposed for the open North Atlantic.

NCAR ECSA Workshop on Coastal ZonesJune 2004

WORLDBATH topography (IRB Climate Data library)

NCAR ECSA Workshop on Coastal ZonesJune 2004

California Current Aleutian Current H

NCAR ECSA Workshop on Coastal ZonesJune 2004 Strub et al., JGR-Oceans, 98 (C8), 1991 Three Competing Models of Cold Filaments: “Squirts” (1-Way Jets): transport to deep ocean Mesoscale Eddies: random, diffusive transport Meandering Jet: very little offshore transport Surface drifters show ~2 week transport times to a couple hundred kilometers offshore. Strong gradients in zooplankton populations in the region of the main coastal jet. Large time lag between blooms in nutrient rich waters and DMS release.

NCAR ECSA Workshop on Coastal ZonesJune 2004 from Melsom et al., Earth Interactions, 1999 [

NCAR ECSA Workshop on Coastal ZonesJune 2004 ← from Curry & Webster [1999] ↓from Dai & Trenberth [2002] Volumes in km 3 yr -1 Drainage Area (DA) in 10 3 km 2

NCAR ECSA Workshop on Coastal ZonesJune 2004

SeaWiFS Chl-A (July 2001)

NCAR ECSA Workshop on Coastal ZonesJune 2004

Phytoplankton Species Composition along Line P

NCAR ECSA Workshop on Coastal ZonesJune 2004 JGOFS II: JGOFS I: New primary production in the Oceanic NE Pacific Re-estimate of new production: 33%

NCAR ECSA Workshop on Coastal ZonesJune 2004 SeaWiFs image of Asian dust cloud Spring 2001 NASA website

NCAR ECSA Workshop on Coastal ZonesJune 2004 Proportion of new production Silicic Acid and Nitrate Uptake West of Vancouver Island May 98