scholarly journals Understanding physical drivers of the 2015/16 marine heatwaves in the Northwest Atlantic

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Perez ◽  
S. Ryan ◽  
M. Andres ◽  
G. Gawarkiewicz ◽  
C. C. Ummenhofer ◽  
...  

AbstractThe Northwest Atlantic, which has exhibited evidence of accelerated warming compared to the global ocean, also experienced several notable marine heatwaves (MHWs) over the last decade. We analyze spatiotemporal patterns of surface and subsurface temperature structure across the Northwest Atlantic continental shelf and slope to assess the influences of atmospheric and oceanic processes on ocean temperatures. Here we focus on MHWs from 2015/16 and examine their physical drivers using observational and reanalysis products. We find that a combination of jet stream latitudinal position and ocean advection, mainly due to warm core rings shed by the Gulf Stream, plays a role in MHW development. While both atmospheric and oceanic drivers can lead to MHWs they have different temperature signatures with each affecting the vertical structure differently and horizontal spatial patterns of a MHW. Northwest Atlantic MHWs have significant socio-economic impacts and affect commercially important species such as squid and lobster.

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (11) ◽  
pp. 3331-3351
Author(s):  
Weifeng (Gordon) Zhang ◽  
Dennis J. McGillicuddy

AbstractThis study examines the generation of warm spiral structures (referred to as spiral streamers here) over Gulf Stream warm-core rings. Satellite sea surface temperature imagery shows spiral streamers forming after warmer water from the Gulf Stream or newly formed warm-core rings impinges onto old warm-core rings and then intrudes into the old rings. Field measurements in April 2018 capture the vertical structure of a warm spiral streamer as a shallow lens of low-density water winding over an old ring. Observations also show subduction on both sides of the spiral streamer, which carries surface waters downward. Idealized numerical model simulations initialized with observed water-mass densities reproduce spiral streamers over warm-core rings and reveal that their formation is a nonlinear submesoscale process forced by mesoscale dynamics. The negative density anomaly of the intruding water causes a density front at the interface between the intruding water and surface ring water, which, through thermal wind balance, drives a local anticyclonic flow. The pressure gradient and momentum advection of the local interfacial flow push the intruding water toward the ring center. The large-scale anticyclonic flow of the ring and the radial motion of the intruding water together form the spiral streamer. The observed subduction on both sides of the spiral streamer is part of the secondary cross-streamer circulation resulting from frontogenesis on the stretching streamer edges. The surface divergence of the secondary circulation pushes the side edges of the streamer away from each other, widens the warm spiral on the surface, and thus enhances its surface signal.


1988 ◽  
Vol 23 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 181-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfred K Hanson ◽  
Carole M Sakamoto-Arnold ◽  
Douglas L Huizenga ◽  
Dana R Kester

Biologia ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 71 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amin Golpour ◽  
Mohammad Abdul Momin Siddique ◽  
Diógenes Henrique Siqueira-Silva ◽  
Martin Pšenička

AbstractInterest in reproductively sterile fish in aquaculture has prompted research into their production. Several methods are available for inducing sterility and optimizing its application in the global fishery industry. Sterilization can potentially be accomplished through irradiation, surgery, or chemical and hormonal treatment. Alternative approaches include triploidization, hybridization, and generation of new lines via advanced biotechnological techniques. Triploids of many commercially important species have been studied extensively and have been produced on a large scale for many years. Novel approaches, including disruption of gonadotropin releasing hormone signalling and genetic ablation of germ cells, have been developed that are effective in producing infertile fish but have the disadvantage of not being 100% reliable or are impractical for large-scale aquaculture. We review currently used technologies and recent advances in induction of sterility in fish, especially those intended for use in germ cell transplantation. Knowledge of the implications of these approaches remains incomplete, imposing considerable limitations.


2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (7) ◽  
pp. 1929-1946 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Grégorio ◽  
Thierry Penduff ◽  
Guillaume Sérazin ◽  
Jean-Marc Molines ◽  
Bernard Barnier ◽  
...  

AbstractThe low-frequency variability of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) is investigated from 2, ¼°, and ° global ocean–sea ice simulations, with a specific focus on its internally generated (i.e., “intrinsic”) component. A 327-yr climatological ¼° simulation, driven by a repeated seasonal cycle (i.e., a forcing devoid of interannual time scales), is shown to spontaneously generate a significant fraction R of the interannual-to-decadal AMOC variance obtained in a 50-yr “fully forced” hindcast (with reanalyzed atmospheric forcing including interannual time scales). This intrinsic variance fraction R slightly depends on whether AMOCs are computed in geopotential or density coordinates, and on the period considered in the climatological simulation, but the following features are quite robust when mesoscale eddies are simulated (at both ¼° and ° resolutions); R barely exceeds 5%–10% in the subpolar gyre but reaches 30%–50% at 34°S, up to 20%–40% near 25°N, and 40%–60% near the Gulf Stream. About 25% of the meridional heat transport interannual variability is attributed to intrinsic processes at 34°S and near the Gulf Stream. Fourier and wavelet spectra, built from the 327-yr ¼° climatological simulation, further indicate that spectral peaks of intrinsic AMOC variability (i) are found at specific frequencies ranging from interannual to multidecadal, (ii) often extend over the whole meridional scale of gyres, (iii) stochastically change throughout these 327 yr, and (iv) sometimes match the spectral peaks found in the fully forced hindcast in the North Atlantic. Intrinsic AMOC variability is also detected at multidecadal time scales, with a marked meridional coherence between 35°S and 25°N (15–30 yr periods) and throughout the whole basin (50–90-yr periods).


Crustaceana ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 88 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 839-856 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Hesse ◽  
J. A. Stanley ◽  
A. G. Jeffs

Kelp habitats are in decline in many temperate coastal regions of the world due to climate change and expansion of populations of grazing urchins. The loss of kelp habitat may influence the vulnerability to predators of the juveniles of commercially important species. In this study relative predation rates for kelp versus barren reef habitat were measured for early juvenile Australasian spiny lobster, Jasus edwardsii (Hutton, 1875), on the northeastern coast of New Zealand using tethering methods. Variation in assemblages of predators over small spatial scales appeared to be more important for determining the relative predation of lobsters, regardless of habitat type. Therefore, the assessment of relative predation risk to early juvenile lobsters between kelp and barren habitats will require more extensive sampling at a small spatial scale, as well as a specific focus on sampling during crepuscular and nocturnal periods when these lobsters are most at risk of predation.


2002 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 499-499 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosseval Galdino LEITE ◽  
Carlos A.R.M. ARAUJO-LIMA

Information on larval fish feeding is essential for understanding their trophic relations, including the management in conditions totally or partially controlled by humans. An experiment was designed to evaluate the larval diets of three commercially important species. Four varzea-lakes and the adjacent river were sampled with bongo and hand nets from January 1993 to November 1995. Larval diets were evaluated by length-classes and capture sites, and were tested by two factor ANOVA. The larvae were feeding in all habitats, except in the flooded forests. The three species had different diets, which varied with their length and lake. The rotifers were the main initial food item of the three species, replaced by fish larvae in Brycon cephalus, cladocerans in Triportheus elongatus and detritus in Semaprochilodus insignis. The increase of the ingestion limit, as the larvae grew, was higher than the increase in the consumed prey size for the three species.


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