2024-03-28T20:38:12Zhttp://digital.csic.es/dspace-oai/requestoai:digital.csic.es:10261/870412016-02-17T17:18:12Zcom_10261_132com_10261_8col_10261_385
Vertical velocities and biological consequences at a front detected at the balearic sea
Balbín, Rosa
Flexas, María del Mar
López-Jurado, José Luis
Peña, M.
Amores, Ángel
Alemany, Francesc
An intense oceanic front was detected at the west of Mallorca Island (Balearic sub-basin of the North Western Mediterranean Sea) during an oceanographic survey in December 2009. This contribution analyses the hydrography and geostrophic motions observed at the front, together with the ageostrophic motion derived from the omega equation. The front separated resident Atlantic water (to the north) from more recent Atlantic water (to the south). Maximum upward vertical velocities of 6. m/day were found at the northern side of the front, related with relative maxima of dissolved oxygen and fluorescence. The vertical velocities in this study are mainly due to relative vorticity advection. AVISO altimetry data is used to discuss the advection of the front over a nearby mooring equipped with temperature and salinity sensors at 300. m below the sea surface. The biological implications of the front are discussed by means of acoustic backscatter data. There is an observed increase in mesopelagic fish biomass at the frontal area. Our hypothesis states that the vertical velocities associated to the front would lead to the observed increase in mesopelagic biomass near the front, which is in agreement with previous studies in other frontal systems. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.
Peer Reviewed
2013-11-19T12:39:19Z
2013-11-19T12:39:19Z
2012
2013-11-19T12:39:19Z
artículo
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
doi: 10.1016/j.csr.2012.06.008
issn: 0278-4343
Continental Shelf Research 47: 28-41 (2012)
http://hdl.handle.net/10261/87041
10.1016/j.csr.2012.06.008
en
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.csr.2012.06.008
none
Pergamon Press