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Coastal Gulf of Alaska Thomas J Old Dominion University ODU Digital Commons CCPO Publications Center for Coastal Physical Oceanography 2002 The orN theast Pacific GLOBEC Program: Coastal Gulf of Alaska Thomas J. Weingartner Kenneth Coyle Bruce Finney Russell Hopcroft Terry Whitledge See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/ccpo_pubs Part of the Climate Commons Repository Citation Weingartner, Thomas J.; Coyle, Kenneth; Finney, Bruce; Hopcroft, Russell; Whitledge, Terry; Brodeur, Richard; Dagg, Michael; Farley, Edward; Haidvogel, Dale; and Royer, Thomas, "The orN theast Pacific GLOBEC Program: Coastal Gulf of Alaska" (2002). CCPO Publications. 308. https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/ccpo_pubs/308 Original Publication Citation Weingartner, T. J., Coyle, K. O., Finney, B., Hopcroft, R., Whitledge, T., Brodeur, R., . Strom, S. (2002). The orN theast Pacific GLOBEC program: Coastal Gulf of Alaska. Oceanography, 15(2), 48-63. doi:10.5670/oceanog.2002.21 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Center for Coastal Physical Oceanography at ODU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in CCPO Publications by an authorized administrator of ODU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Authors Thomas J. Weingartner, Kenneth Coyle, Bruce Finney, Russell Hopcroft, Terry Whitledge, Richard Brodeur, Michael Dagg, Edward Farley, Dale Haidvogel, and Thomas Royer This article is available at ODU Digital Commons: https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/ccpo_pubs/308 >-~' J.:.J,j,..;__":~• .._. ;,(_ ,~ • • ,_ • • ~ ~ ;; ~ :( r : 'z:• ~'~-<~~•~ SPECIAL ISSUE - U.S. GLOBEC The Northeast Pacific GLOBEC Program: Coastal Gulf of Alaska Thomas J. Weingartner, Kenneth Coyle, Bruce Finney, Russell Hopcroft, Terry Whitledge University of Alaska. Fairbanks, Alaska USA Richard Brodeur NOAA/Northwest Fisheries Science Center. Newport, Oregon USA Michael Dagg Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium. Chauvin, Louisiana USA Edward Farley NOAA/Auke Bay Laboratory. Juneau, Alaska USA Dale Haidvogel Rutgers University. New Brunswick, New Jersey USA Lew Haldorson, Un iversity of Alaska. Juneau, Alaska USA Al Hermann, Sarah Hinckley, Jeffrey Napp, Phyllis Stabeno NOAA/Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory. Seattle, Washington USA Thomas Kline Prince William Sound Science Center. Cordova, Alaska USA Craig Lee, Evelyn Lessard University of Washington. Seattle, Washington USA Thomas Royer Old Dominion University. Norfolk, Virginia USA Suzanne Strom Western Washington University.Anacortes, Washington USA Introduction The Gulf of Alaska (GOA) continental shelf siderable variability on both interannual and longer encompasses approximately 370,000 km2, or about 13% time scales in harvest and recruitment success to this of the U.S. continental shelf, and supports a rich and and other GOA fisheries. Of recent interest are com­ diverse marine ecosystem including some of the pelling indications that abundances of salmon, other largest commercial fisheries in the U.S. Exclusive fish species, and zooplankton vary on decadal scales in Economic Zone. Of particular economic importance is association with North Pacific basin-scale climate tJ1e salmon fishery, which was worth on the order of changes (Beamish, 1995; Mantua et al., 1997; Roemmich $170 million (landed value) in 2000 accrued from a and McGowan, 1995; Brodeur et al., 1996; Francis et al., catch of over 100 million fish. However, there is con- 1998; Anderson and Piatt, 1999; Hollowed et al., 2001). -------------- Oceanography • Vo l. 15 • No. 2/2002 -------------- 48 Salmon recruitment success appears to be predom­ both a freshwater reservoir and a sediment source for inantly established during the first year of life after the the shelf. juvenile salmon leave nearshore nursery areas and Climate variability in the GOA might be expressed move onto the shelf (Francis and Hare, 1994; Pearcy, in a number of ways. Atmospheric-induced variations 1992). For pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha), could alter the wind and thermal regime both over the migration onto the shelf begins in July, peaks in August shelf and the basin and/ or perturb the hydrologic cycle and diminishes through fall (Boldt, through changes in precipitation rates 2001), although juveniles may remain or patterns or by altering the mass bal­ on the shelf through December (Welch ance of the glaciers and the seasonal et al., 1998). Individual growth and Of recent interest are snowpack. Alternatively, ocean cur­ mortality are high during this phase of compelling indications rents might efficiently carry remote cli­ the life history (Parker, 1968; Pearcy mate perturbation signals into this 1992; Boldt, 2001; Beamish and that abundances of region. In developing an understand­ Mahnken, 2001) and depend on the salmon, other fish species, ing of how climate variability affects complex interplay of a number of fac­ the CGOA ecosystem, a key challenge tors such as the composition, abun­ and zooplankton vary is to explain the physical basis of bio­ dance, density, and condition of plank­ on decadal scales in logical production on this shelf. The tonic prey, predator types and association with North CGOA is paradoxical because the high abundances, disease, turbulence, and biological productivity (as indicated by water temperature. Climate perturba­ Pacific basin-scale the magnitude of commercial fish land­ tions could influence any of these vari­ climate changes. ings) occurs in the face of both strong ables both directly and indirectly. Direct downwelling and a massive, nitrate- effects, such as control of predator poor coastal freshwater discharge. abundance or juvenile salmon growth Solving this intriguing problem and rates by water temperature are relatively easy to study. understanding how production processes might be Indirect effects, such as "bottom up" processes, are altered by climate change is a key focus of GLOBEC more difficult to determine. For example, climate vari­ studies in the CGOA. ability might affect the timing and/ or magnitude of the spring bloom, the effects of which then propagate Physical Setting through the food web to influence the timing, compo­ The dominant circulation features over the GOA sition, and biomass of summer-fall zooplankton, with shelf and slope are the Alaska Coastal Current (ACC) consequences for juvenile salmon feeding success and on the inner shelf and, along the continental slope, the growth rate (Denman et al. 1989; Gargett, 1997). The Alaska Current in the eastern gulf and its transforma­ target zooplankton species in GLOBEC-CGOA tion into the Alaskan Stream in the northwestern gulf (Coastal Gulf of Alaska) studies, Calanoid copepods (Figure 1). These currents are extensive, cyclonic, and and euphausiids (see Table 1 in Fogarty and Powell persist year-round. They flow over complicated bottom this issue; Strub et al., this issue), were selected as crit­ topography, so that mesoscale flow variations generat­ ically important elements in the food web dynamics of ed by flow-topography interactions are likely. The ACC this region. spans an alongshore distance of -2500 km from its ori­ In the NEP-GLOBEC program we are investigating gin on the British Columbian shelf (or perhaps even how large-scale climate signals are manifested at the further south in winter) (Royer, 1998) to its termination scale of the continental shelf ecosystem. Basin-or glob­ in the western gulf where it enters the Bering Sea al-scale climatic signals are likely modified by regional (Schumacher et al., 1982). It is a wind- and buoyancy­ processes, and it is this modified, local, signature that forced coastal current generally confined to within 40 presumably affects the regional biological response to a km of the coast and bounded offshore by a salinity given climate perturbation. The regional responses to front whose strength and structure varies seasonally in climate perturbations in the GOA are strongly depend­ response to variations in winds and freshwater dis­ ent on its high-latitude location and its geomorpholo­ charge. The Alaska Current and Alaskan Stream are, gy. Together these profoundly influence the meteorolo­ respectively, the eastern and western boundary cur­ gy, hydrology, and the response of this shelf ecosystem rents of the GOA and respond primarily to the cyclonic to climate variability. wind stress curl over this basin. The geomorphology of the GOA shelf reflects past These currents comprise the poleward limb of the (and present) glacial and tectonic processes. These North Pacific Subarctic Gyre and provide the oceanic have carved a convoluted coastline and punctuated link between the GOA shelf and the North Pacific this relatively deep (>150 m) shelf with numerous Ocean. In so doing, the boundary currents advect warm, troughs, canyons, and banks. Tectonic uplift has lower latitude waters into the northern gulf and there­ formed an extensive ring of coastal mountains around fore play an important role in the regional heat budget. the gulf. The mountains are covered by the Earth's The Alaska Current is a broad (-300 km), sluggish (5-10 1 third largest glacial field (Meier, 1984), with these being cm s- ) flow with weak horizontal and vertical velocity ---------------- Oceanography • Vol. 15 • No. 2/2002 ---------------- 49 Annual Forcing Cycles / ~ ~ UrnH~lling .~ lnde, _., (6/i''' · /~'I",,., _-5, -100 I = 2 mlyr precipitation Figure 1. Regional map of the Gulf of Alaska showing the principal currents and mean annual precipitation rates (b lack
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