Monitoring the Influence of the Mesoscale Ocean Dynamics on Phytoplanktonic Plumes around the Marquesas Islands Using Multi-Satellite Missions
Type | Article | ||||||||||||
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Date | 2020-08 | ||||||||||||
Language | English | ||||||||||||
Author(s) | Cassianides Angelina1, Martinez Elodie3, Maes Christophe3, Carton Xavier2, Gorgues Thomas3 | ||||||||||||
Affiliation(s) | 1 : Laboratoire d’Océanographie Physique et Spatiale (LOPS), IUEM Brest, University of Brest, CNRS, IRD, Ifremer, 29200 Brest, France 2 : Laboratoire d’Océanographie Physique et Spatiale (LOPS), IUEM Brest, University of Brest, CNRS, IRD, Ifremer, 29200 Brest, France 3 : Laboratoire d’Océanographie Physique et Spatiale (LOPS), IUEM Brest, University of Brest, CNRS, IRD, Ifremer, 29200 Brest, France |
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Source | Remote Sensing (2072-4292) (MDPI AG), 2020-08 , Vol. 12 , N. 16 , P. 2520 (10p.) | ||||||||||||
DOI | 10.3390/rs12162520 | ||||||||||||
WOS© Times Cited | 3 | ||||||||||||
Note | This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Ocean Primary Production | ||||||||||||
Keyword(s) | mesoscale dynamics, chlorophyll-a concentration variability, coastal fertilization, horizontal advection, Marquesas islands | ||||||||||||
Abstract | The Marquesas islands are a place of strong phytoplanktonic enhancement, whose original mechanisms have not been explained yet. Several mechanisms such as current−bathymetry interactions or island run-off can fertilize waters in the immediate vicinity or downstream of the islands, allowing phytoplankton enhancement. Here, we took the opportunity of an oceanographic cruise carried out at the end of 2018, to combine in situ and satellite observations to investigate two phytoplanktonic blooms occurring north and south of the archipelago. First, Lagrangian diagnostics show that both chlorophyll-a concentrations (Chl) plumes are advected from the islands. Second, the use of Finite-size Lyaponov Exponent and frontogenesis diagnostics reveal how the Chl plumes are shaped by the passage of a mesoscale cyclonic eddy in the south and by a converging front and finer-scale dynamic activity in the north. Our results based on these observations provide clues to the hypothesis of a fertilization from the islands themselves allowing phytoplankton to thrive. They also highlight the role of advection to disperse and shape the Chl plumes in two regions with contrasting dynamical regimes |
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