Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 17 September 1993:
Vol. 261. no. 5128, pp. 1560 - 1564
DOI: 10.1126/science.261.5128.1560
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Cross-Shelf Sediment Transport by an Anticyclonic Eddy Off Northern California

Libe Washburn 1, Mark S. Swenson 2, John L. Largier 3, P. Michael Kosro 4, and Steven R. Ramp 5

1 Center for Remote Sensing and Environmental Optics, Department of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106
2 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, 4301 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, FL 33149
3 Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA 92093
4 College of Oceanography, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331
5 Department of Oceanography, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA 93943

A combination of satellite imagery, shipboard profiles, drifter tracks, and moored current observations reveals that an anticyclonic eddy off the coast of northern California transported plumes of suspended sediments from the continental shelf into the deep ocean. The horizontal scale of the eddy was about 90 kilometers, and the eddy remained over the continental shelf and slope for about 2 months during the summer of 1988. The total mass of sediments transported by the eddy was of order 105 metric tons. Mesoscale eddies are recurrent features in this region and occur frequently in eastern boundary currents. These results provide direct evidence that eddies export sediments from continental shelves.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Current reversals as determinants of intertidal recruitment on the central Oregon coast.
S. E. Dudas, B. A. Grantham, A. R. Kirincich, B. A. Menge, J. Lubchenco, and J. A. Barth (2009)
ICES J. Mar. Sci. 66, 396-407
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)