No abstract

Turbulent vertical nitrate fluxes were calculated using new turbulent microstructure observations in the Lower St. Lawrence Estuary (LSLE), Canada. Two stations were compared: the head of the Laurentian Channel (HLC), where intense mixing occurs on the shallow sill that marks the upstream limit of the LSLE, and another station located about 100 km downstream (St. 23), more representative of the LSLE mean mixing conditions. Mean turbulent diffusivities and nitrate fluxes at the base of the surface layer for both stations were, respectively (with 95% confidence intervals): K HLC Observations suggest that the interplay between large isopleth heaving near the sill and strong turbulence is the key mechanism to sustain such high turbulent nitrate fluxes at the HLC (two to three orders of magnitude higher than those at Station 23). Calculations also suggest that nitrate fluxes at the HLC alone can sustain primary production rates of 3:4ð0:6; 11Þ g C m 22 mo 21 over the whole LSLE, approximately enough to account for a large part of the phytoplankton bloom and for most of the postbloom production. Surfacing nitrates are also believed to be consumed within the LSLE, not leaving much to be exported to the rest of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Using a combination of in situ observations and idealistic 2‐D nonhydrostatic numerical simulations, the relation between cold‐water coral (CWC) mound size and hydrodynamics is explored for the Rockall Bank area in the North Atlantic Ocean. It is shown that currents generated by topographically trapped tidal waves in this area cause large isopycnal depressions resulting from an internal hydraulic control above CWC mounds. The oxygen concentration distribution is used as a tracer to visualize the flow behavior and the turbulent mixing above the mounds. By comparing two CWC mounds of different sizes and located close to each other, it is shown that the resulting mixing is highly dependent on the size of the mound. The effects of the hydraulic control for mixing, nutrient availability, and ecosystem functioning are also discussed.

Over the last decades, many coastal and estuarine environments have experienced a dramatic decline in dissolved oxygen concentrations (