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The mechanisms controlling the temperature and salinity structure of shallow continental shelf seas have been understood for over thirty years, yet knowledge of what drives their large‐scale circulation has remained relatively unknown. Here we describe a decade long programme of measurements, using satellite‐tracked drifting buoys on the northwest European shelf, to draw attention to a striking picture of highly organised thermohaline circulation consisting of narrow, near surface, fast flowing jets. These are ubiquitous above sharp horizontal gradients in bottom temperatures and/or salinities. The circulation phenomena we describe are likely to be prevalent on all similar, wide, tidally energetic continental shelves including those off north‐eastern China, Argentina and parts of the Arctic. The robust, repeatable observation of the key role of jets above bottom fronts results in a fundamental reassessment of how we view the dynamics of shelf seas.

Megacities are not only important drivers for socio-economic development but also sources of environmental challenges. Many megacities and large urban agglomerations are located in the coastal zone where land, atmosphere, and ocean meet, posing multiple environmental challenges which we consider here. The atmospheric flow around megacities is complicated by urban heat island effects and topographic flows and sea breezes and influences air pollution and human health. The outflow of polluted air over the ocean perturbs biogeochemical processes. Contaminant inputs can damage downstream coastal zone ecosystem function and resources including fisheries, induce harmful algal blooms and feedback to the atmosphere via marine emissions. The scale of influence of megacities in the coastal zone is hundreds to thousands of kilometers in the atmosphere and tens to hundreds of kilometers in the ocean. We list research needs to further our understanding of coastal megacities with the ultimate aim to improve their environmental management.

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A comparative analysis of the morphology, toxin composition, and ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequences was performed on a suite of clonal cultures of the potentially toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium minutum Halim. These were established from resting cysts or vegetative cells isolated from sediment and water samples taken from the south and west coasts of Ireland. Results revealed that strains were indistinguishable, both morphologically and through the sequencing of the D1-D2 domain of the large subunit and the ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 regions of the rDNA. High-performance liquid chromatography fluorescence detection analysis, however, showed that only strains derived from retentive inlets on the southern Irish coast synthesized paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) toxins (GTX2 and GTX3), whereas all strains of A. minutum isolated from the west coast were nontoxic. Toxin analysis of net hauls, taken when A. minutum vegetative cells were in the water column, revealed no PSP toxins in samples from Killary Harbor (western coast), whereas GTX2 and GTX3 were detected in samples from Cork Harbor (southern coast). These results confirm the identity of A. minutum as the most probable causative organism for historical occurrences of contamination of shellfish with PSP toxins in Cork Harbor. Finally, random amplification of polymorphic DNA was carried out to determine the degree of polymorphism among strains. The analysis showed that all toxic strains from Cork Harbor clustered together and that a separate cluster grouped all nontoxic strains from the western coast.

A nonaxenic isolate of the potentially toxic diatom Pseudo‐nitzschia australis (Frenguelli) from Irish waters was tested in two separate batch culture experiments. When grown under a low irradiance (∼12 μmol photons·m−2·s−1; 16:8‐h light:dark cycle) for up to 40 days, the culture produced only trace amounts of the neurotoxin domoic acid (DA) during late stationary phase. Growth at a higher irradiance (∼115 μmol photons·m−2·s−1; 12:12‐h light:dark cycle) resulted in DA production starting during late exponential phase and reaching a maximum concentration of 26 pg DA·cell−1 during late stationary phase. Liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry was used to confirm the identity of DA in the culture. Irradiance and photoperiod could be important factors that contribute directly or indirectly to the control of DA production in P. australis. This is the first record of a DA‐producing diatom in Irish waters, and results indicate P. australis may have been the source of DA that has recently contaminated shellfisheries in this area.

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