The influence of tropical instability waves on phytoplankton blooms in the wake of the Marquesas Islands during 1998 and on the currents observed during the drift of the Kon‐Tiki in 1947

Abstract

During 1998, five episodes of elevated chlorophyll concentration are observed in the Pacific around the Marquesas Islands (140°W, 10°S) in SeaWiFS ocean color observations. Daily positions of geostationary satellite sea surface temperature fronts reveal the influence of the westward propagating tropical instability waves as narrow temperature fronts that extend far to the south of the equator and intersect the nutrient rich waters of the Marquesas. Because the upwelled equatorial waters are rich in iron, phytoplankton blooms are produced and are advected downstream by the South Equatorial Current. Previous studies attributed the blooms to local sources of iron and the interaction of the Marquesas with the South Equatorial Current. The satellite observations suggest that the currents that produced the phytoplankton blooms may have diverted the Kon‐Tiki southward in 1947 as described by Thor Heyerdahl.

Community‐Level Responses to Iron Availability in Open Ocean Plankton Ecosystems

“…Since these metals were not limiting in the HNLC conditions, it is possible that the removal of iron limitation affected the biological pathways related to metal ion uptake in general. For more information on the oceanographic context of the Marquesas Island at the time of sampling, see supporting information S2 (Blain et al, 2008;Dolan et al, 2007;Gómez et al, 2007;Guidi et al, 2008;Legeckis et al, 2004;Masquelier & Vaulot, 2007;Ras et al, 2008;Signorini et al, 1999;Stemmann et al, 2008).…”

Evaluation of altimetry-derived surface current products using Lagrangian drifter trajectories in the eastern Gulf of Mexico

“…Recently, Robinson [2011] also evaluated the OSCAR product with in situ data from tide gauges, moored and shipboard ADCP measurements in the Intra-American Seas, including the eastern GOM. The OSCAR product has also been used to study ocean circulation variability at different scales [e.g., Picaut et al, 2002;Legeckis et al, 2004;Lumpkin et al, 2010], including an application in the Tropical Atlantic [Helber et al, 2007].…”

Measuring the Global Ocean Surface Circulation with Satellite and In Situ Observations

“…In addition to the ENSO-related investigations, the OSCAR analyses have been used in a wide range of studies, such as the role of salt transport in tropical freshwater [21], the influence of tropical instability waves on phytoplankton blooms in the Pacific ( [22] and [23]), and the mixed-layer temperature balance [24]. In the tropical Atlantic, studies have addressed equatorial divergence and upwelling dynamics [25], interannual equatorial long waves [26] and the mixed-layer salinity balance [27].…”