Internal tide—shelf topography interactions as a forcing factor governing the large-scale distribution and burial fluxes of particulate organic matter (POM) in the Benguela upwelling system

Autor: E. Mabille, E Klingelhoeffer, A.K. van der Plas, G Nelson, G.W. Bailey, Pedro M. S. Monteiro
Rok vydání: 2005
Předmět:
Zdroj: Continental Shelf Research. 25:1864-1876
ISSN: 0278-4343
DOI: 10.1016/j.csr.2005.06.012
Popis: This studyinvestigates the role of internal tides in driving the sedimentation and re-suspension of biogenic POM on the Namibian shelf and give rise to stable 500–800 km long shore alternating bands of high and low POM concentrations. Temperature time series data (September 2000–March 2001) from the benthic boundarylay er at three sites are used to hypothesise that the dominant forcing mechanism are internal tides and their interaction with the shelf break zones. Vertical displacements of the temperature structure by100–150 m at the outer shelf break (depth 450 m) are shown to occur through out the 6-month time series. In contrast at non-shelf break sites the vertical displacements of temperature are negligible. The shear–stresses predicted landward of the shelf break zone from 100–150 m vertical displacements of the temperature structure are significantlyhigher ( 40.1 Pa) than the critical shear–stresses which govern the re-suspension of biogenic particles and fine sediments (0.05–0.1 Pa). Short-term ADCP data was used to show that critical shear–stress distribution at the different POM areas is consistent with the predicted net accumulation and net erosional zones of POM across the Namibian shelf. This studyhy pothesises that the barotropic–baroclinic tidal coupling governs vertical particle flux dynamics whereas Ekman and inertial flows are thought to govern the horizontal advection scales that result in the observed POM distribution. The importance of this improved dynamical understanding has implications for both carbon burial efficiencyas well as the variabilityin the suitabilityof benthic fisheries habitats. r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Databáze: OpenAIRE