Influence of kelp forests on flow around headlands

Valle‐Levinson, Arnoldo; Daly, Mary K.; Juarez, Braulio; Tenorio-Fernandez, Leonardo; Fagundes, Matheus; Woodson, C. Brock; Monismith, Stephen G.

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153952

Cited by 3 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…This may indicate that velocities measured by the ADP, located on the outer edge of the PP kelp forest, when the kelp forest had its highest biomass were not representative of velocities inside the kelp forest when the kelp forest had its highest biomass. Instead, the ADP measured flows reflecting the diversion of the oncoming flow around the kelp, as seen by Valle-Levinson et al (2022). This would be consistent with the velocity measurements of Traiger et al (2022), who observed near-zero alongshore velocities inside a kelp forest in Monterey Bay.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

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Influence of Kelp Forest Biomass on Nearshore Currents

et al. 2022

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As part of a project focused on the coastal fisheries of Isla Natividad, an island on the Pacific coast of Baja California, Mexico, we conducted a 2‐1/2 year study of flows at two sites within the island's kelp forests. At one site (Punta Prieta), currents are tidal, whereas at the other site (Morro Prieto), currents are weaker and may be more strongly influenced by wind forcing. Satellite estimates of the biomass of the giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) for this period varied between 0 (no kelp) and 3 kg/m2 (dense kelp forest), including a period in which kelp entirely was absent as a result of the 2014–2015 “Warm Blob” in the Eastern Pacific. During this natural “deforestation experiment”, alongshore velocities at both sites when kelp was present were substantially weaker than when kelp was absent, with low‐frequency alongshore currents attenuated more than higher frequency ones, behavior that was the same at both sites despite differences in forcing. The attenuation of cross‐shore flows by kelp was less than alongshore flows; thus, residence times for water inside the kelp forest, which are primarily determined by cross‐shore velocities, were only weakly affected by the presence or absence of kelp. The flow changes we observed in response to changes in kelp density are important to the biogeochemical functioning of the kelp forest in that slower flows imply longer residence times, and, are also ecologically relevant in that reduced tidal excursions may lead to more localized recruitment of planktonic larvae.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

“…Instead, the ADP measured flows reflecting the diversion of the oncoming flow around the kelp, as seen by Valle‐Levinson et al. (2022). This would be consistent with the velocity measurements of Traiger et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Influence of Kelp Forest Biomass on Nearshore Currents

et al. 2022

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“…Kelp lives in nutrient-rich habitats such as Eastern Boundary currents (EBUs) and provides significant global carbon sequestration either through respiration or carbon burial (Mcleod et al, 2011;Britton et al, 2016;Low et al, 2021, Eger et al, 2023. While kelp forests are important for global carbon sequestration (Macreadie et al, 2019), kelp forests also have local biological (Gaylord et al, 2002;Steneck et al, 2003) and physical impacts (Gaylord et al, 2007) that have been observed in situ (Walter et al, 2012;Leary et al, 2017;Monismith et al, 2022) and in laboratory experiments (Rosman et al, 2010;Rosman et al, 2013). Considering that kelp forests have ecological, biogeochemical, and physical importance, comparative efforts to simulate these ecosystems in ocean models have been limited.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Kelp forests account for almost 5% of the total global blue carbon and 1/3 of the total carbon sequestered in coastal regions (Filbee-Dexter & Wernberg, 2020;Eger et al, 2023). Similarly, kelp forests alter currents and mixing in subtidal nearshore environments of temperate and high latitudes (Dayton, 1985;Rafaelli & Hawkins, 1999) and can dampen headland upwelling processes (Valle-Levinson et al, 2022). Previous studies to understand the effect of kelp forests on currents focused on particular regions along the California Current System (CCS; e.g: Jackson, 1984;Monismith et al, 2022), scaled laboratory experiments (e.g: Rosman et al, 2010), or high-resolution simulation of kelp beds (e.g: Wu et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, kelp forests alter currents and mixing in subtidal nearshore environments of temperate and high latitudes (Dayton, 1985;Rafaelli & Hawkins, 1999) and can dampen headland upwelling processes (Valle-Levinson et al, 2022). Previous studies to understand the effect of kelp forests on currents focused on particular regions along the California Current System (CCS; e.g: Jackson, 1984;Monismith et al, 2022), scaled laboratory experiments (e.g: Rosman et al, 2010), or high-resolution simulation of kelp beds (e.g: Wu et al, 2017). While these studies helped better understand flow-vegetation interactions in these complex ecosystems, they did not capture the entire range of effects that kelp forests have on the biology, biogeochemistry, and currents.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Kelp Forest model development in the Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave-Sediment-Transport model (COAWST V3.4)

Fagundes,

Micheli,

Monismith

et al. 2023

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Abstract. Kelp forests are essential ecosystems in coastal regions around the world. They have large effects on flow structure, biogeochemical processes, and ecological dynamics. However, studies have yet to simulate these ecosystems in either regional ocean or global climate models. Here we describe and validate a model that simulates kelp forests in the water column for the ocean component of the Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave-Sediment-Transport model (COAWST V3.3) using a simple yet efficient linear regression approach to simulate kelp canopies. An in-situ dataset of 2-1/2 years, with and without kelp forest coverage around Isla Natividad (Baja CA, MX), allowed model validation for the main tidal constituents. We tested different vegetation drag coefficients and compared simulations with our canopy model against the standard vegetation module in COAWST. Results show that while both models simulate the velocities observed in the in situ dataset reasonably well, our model better represents turbulence kinetic energy through the water column as observed in laboratory experiments. This new kelp model can be helpful in ecology, physics, and biogeochemistry studies.

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