The role of turbulence in fueling the subsurface chlorophyll maximum in tidally dominated shelf seas

Abstract

Continental shelf seas are very energetic environments, dissipating about two thirds of the global tidal energy (Egbert & Ray, 2000) despite accounting for less than 11% of the ocean's surface and less than 1% of its water volume. Their highly productive ecosystems give rise to a disproportionately large fraction of the global ocean's primary production (Muller-Karger et al., 2005). Due to a combination of processes referred to as the shelf sea pump (Tsunogai et al., 1999), the coastal ocean plays a vital role in the uptake and export of CO 2 from the atmosphere, which makes it a key element in Earth's climate system (