The combined effect of transient wind‐driven upwelling and eddies on vertical nutrient fluxes and phytoplankton dynamics along Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia

Research reveals that coastal mesoscale eddies significantly influence nutrient fluxes and phytoplankton dynamics along Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia, often overriding the effects of wind-driven upwelling. A 3-D hydrodynamic model coupled with a biogeochemical NPZD model was used to simulate currents, temperatures, and chlorophyll a concentrations during austral spring-summer 2010. While wind stress and stratification primarily controlled shelf currents and biogeochemical variables in individual upwelling events, the presence of an anticyclonic eddy introduced complex spatial and temporal variations in nutrient profiles, independent of wind stress. This highlights the need to account for mesoscale and submescale processes to accurately predict coastal phytoplankton dynamics in eddy-intensive regions like Ningaloo Reef.

Zhang, Z., Lowe, R., Ivey, G., Xu, J., & Falter, J. (2016). The combined effect of transient wind‐driven upwelling and eddies on vertical nutrient fluxes and phytoplankton dynamics along Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 121(7), 4994–5016. Portico. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016jc011791