Variability in pigment concentration in warm-core rings as determined by coastal zone color scanner satellite imagery from the Mid-Atlantic Bight
Document Type
Article
Date of Original Version
1-1-1994
Abstract
A time series of coastal zone color scanner (CZCS) derived chlorophyll (CZCS-chl) and sea surface temperature (SST) satellite imagery was developed for the Mid-Atlantic Bight (MAB). Warm-core rings (WCR) were identified by both the warmer SST signal as well as the low pigment concentrations of their cores. The variation in pigment concentrations and SST observed in satellite imagery over the geographic range and life span of four WCRs is investigated. The hypotheses are that pigment concentration increase during the lifetime of the WCR is a response to processes such as convective overturn, upwelling, edge enhancement due to increased vertical mixing, active convergence, or lateral exchange. Results show that advective entrainment, rather than processes at ring center (e.g., shoaling of the pycnocline/nutricline in response to frictional decay) or at the periphery due to other processes such as vertical mixing, is the mechanism responsible for the observed variability. -Authors
Publication Title, e.g., Journal
Journal of Geophysical Research
Volume
99
Issue
C7
Citation/Publisher Attribution
Garcia-Moliner, G., and J. A. Yoder. "Variability in pigment concentration in warm-core rings as determined by coastal zone color scanner satellite imagery from the Mid-Atlantic Bight." Journal of Geophysical Research 99, C7 (1994). doi: 10.1029/93jc03515.