Salinity Pulses Off the Central Oregon Coast Received: 09 March 2015 1 2 2 2 2 Accepted: 19 October 2015 Piero L
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www.nature.com/scientificreports OPEN Anomalous Near-Surface Low- Salinity Pulses off the Central Oregon Coast Received: 09 March 2015 1 2 2 2 2 Accepted: 19 October 2015 Piero L. F. Mazzini , Craig M. Risien , John A. Barth , Stephen D. Pierce , Anatoli Erofeev , 2 2 2 2 Published: 26 November 2015 Edward P. Dever , P. Michael Kosro , Murray D. Levine , R. Kipp Shearman & Michael F. Vardaro2 From mid-May to August 2011, extreme runoff in the Columbia River ranged from 14,000 to over 17,000 m3/s, more than two standard deviations above the mean for this period. The extreme runoff was the direct result of both melting of anomalously high snowpack and rainfall associated with the 2010–2011 La Niña. The effects of this increased freshwater discharge were observed off Newport, Oregon, 180 km south of the Columbia River mouth. Salinity values as low as 22, nine standard deviations below the climatological value for this period, were registered at the mid-shelf. Using a network of ocean observing sensors and platforms, it was possible to capture the onshore advection of the Columbia River plume from the mid-shelf, 20 km offshore, to the coast and eventually into Yaquina Bay (Newport) during a sustained wind reversal event. Increased freshwater delivery can influence coastal ocean ecosystems and delivery of offshore, river-influenced water may influence estuarine biogeochemistry. Annually, after the spring transition1, winds off the Oregon and Washington coast are predominantly southward (upwelling-favorable) and the Columbia River Plume (CRP) is advected to the south by the coastal upwelling jet, and offshore by the cumulative Ekman transport, detaching the plume from the coast. The shelf currents and wind forcing overwhelm the natural tendency of the plume to turn to the right due to the Coriolis effect, and as a result, relatively fresh water is observed off the Oregon coast2. Departures from this average state, however, can be quite dramatic, with a bi-directional CRP also often influencing the Washington shelf during summer3,4. The location of plume water as well as its freshwater content are important to the Oregon-Washington shelf ecosystem as it affects sediment deposition, nutrient concentrations as well as circulation and strat- ification3. Recent work has shown the importance of the CRP to shelf ecosystems and biogeochemistry including increased primary productivity, enhanced macrozooplankton concentration, delivery of bio- logically important micronutrients, and offshelf chlorophyll export5–8. Because rivers and estuaries differ in their carbon chemistry dynamics from the open shelf, there is increased interest in how these regions interact with respect to ocean acidification. River-influenced water on the open continental shelf can enter coastal estuaries and influence both the physics, including stratification and circulation, and biogeochemistry found there. Since the Columbia River is the largest freshwater source on the U.S. west coast, it is important to estimate the reach of its alongshore influence on both continental shelf ecosystems and coastal estuaries. While a number of observations9–13 reveal frequent intrusions of the CRP into estuaries north of the Columbia River, along the Washington coast, to our knowledge observations of CRP waters entering 1Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 71 Dudley Road New Brunswick, NJ 08901. 2College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences Oregon State University, 104 CEOAS Administration Building, 101 SW 26th St, Corvallis, OR 97331, United States. Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to P.L.F.M. (email: [email protected]) SCIENTIFIC REPORTS | 5:17145 | DOI: 10.1038/srep17145 1 www.nature.com/scientificreports/ estuaries south of the Columbia River have not been previously reported, despite the fact that the CRP may extend over 500 km south of the Columbia River mouth2. From mid-May through August 2011, extreme Columbia River discharge reached more than two standard deviations above the mean for most of this period, having a peak discharge of nearly 17,000 m3/s in early June (Fig. 1c). This anomalous discharge as well as the atmospheric circulation and climate anomalies observed over the Pacific Northwest region during spring of 2011 can be explained by an extreme La Niña event14,15. The months of February and March reached the highest monthly Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) since 1866, while the month of April had the highest value since 1903 and the 2nd-highest on record. The impacts of this La Niña in the Pacific Northwest, with approximately a 3-month lag, were characterized by a longer storm season, increased spring snowfall in the Cascade Range, and negative temperature anomalies14. Just as extreme weather events influence terrestrial eco- systems and have potential economic impacts16, it is important to understand the impact of such events on marine ecosystems. Effects of the anomalous discharge from the Columbia River on the coastal ocean thermohaline struc- ture were observed offshore of Newport, Oregon, approximately 180 km south of the Columbia River mouth. Using a suite of sensors and platforms, including three moorings, land-based HF-radar, satellite remote sensing and underwater gliders, we describe the onshore advection of the CRP off Newport, OR, from the mid-shelf, nearly 20km offshore, to the coast and eventually into the Yaquina Bay (Newport) during a sustained wind reversal event. In the next section we present our results, which are structured as follows: first the broader scale weather patterns are characterized as well as their effect on the CR streamflow during the spring/sum- mer of 2011; then the spring transition and its effects on thermohaline structure of the coastal ocean are presented; lastly, a case study is presented, in which both satellite remote sensing and in situ moored observations are used to demonstrate the onshore propagation of the CRP onto the inner-shelf and into the Yaquina bay estuary and the consequent impact in the estuarine biogeochemistry. The results section is followed by the discussion section in which we place our findings in context and summarize and dis- cuss our conclusions. Finally in the methods section we describe the data and methods used in this study. Results Extreme Columbia River Discharge. Abnormally high precipitation rates and snow accumulation were observed in the Pacific Northwest during spring 2011. The May average precipitation map (Fig. 1a) shows values that are 130% of climatological mean, for most of the Columbia River drainage area. Snowpack (Fig. 1b) for most of the region had values ranging from 150–180% of the mean, and several places over 180% of the mean. As a result of snow melt from extremely high levels of snowpack and high precipitation rates during spring 2011, anomalously high Columbia River discharge rates were observed during the spring and summer 2011 (Fig. 1c). The first of two significant discharge peaks occurred from the end of March until the beginning of May, varying from 9,000 to 14,000 m3/s. The second, more signif- icant peak, persisted from mid-May through August. During this period, discharge rates peaked at more than 17,000 m3/s, or 82% above the climatological monthly average. As a direct response to this anoma- lous discharge, surface salinity values as low as 22 were observed 18 km west of Newport, OR at NH-10 on 25–26 May (not shown), nine standard deviations below the climatological value for this period. These were also the lowest recorded values since sustained NH-10 mooring observations began in 1999. La Niña events have been shown to influence streamflow in several regions of the USA, including the Pacific Northwest17,18. Ship observations from 1959–2007, complemented by glider data from 2006–2012, along the Newport Hydrographic (NH) Line, were analyzed to verify the impact of increased river dis- charge from the Columbia River due to La Niña events on salinity during the upwelling season. The Multivariate El Niño/Southern Oscillation Index (MEI)19,20, has a significant correlation with monthly salinity minima (r = 0.44, 95% confidence level of 0.39), and a regression is shown in Fig. 2, with an observed slope of 0.2 (+ /− 0.1). This analysis was conducted between the months of May and September. Only months which had a minimum of nine observations and reached at least 35 miles offshore were used. Thermohaline Structure and Freshwater Content. In 2011, the upwelling season along the Oregon coast occurred from 16 April to 11 September, following the upwelling season definition in Pierce et al.21. In Fig. 3a, freshwater content as a function of cross-shelf distance as well as salinity, tem- perature, density and depth-averaged currents are shown for two glider transects: one at the beginning of the upwelling season, surveyed from 17–23 April 2011 (Fig. 3c), right before the high Columbia River discharge peak, and the second one later in the upwelling season, from 10–14 June 2011 (Fig. 3d), close to the discharge peak. For comparison, the mean and standard deviations of freshwater content estimated for the upwelling season using 272 salinity transects from 2006–2012 are also shown in Fig. 3a. Freshwater content of the water column at the beginning of the upwelling season is confined between the coast and 50 km offshore, varying from 0.5–0.8 m, within one standard deviation from the mean for this time of the year. Later in the season, the second glider transect shows the presence of freshwater along its entire track, from the coast to 80 km offshore. Most of the freshwater content is above one standard deviation from the mean, with a maximum peak of 2.2 m, more than two standard deviations from the mean, centered around 55 km offshore. SCIENTIFIC REPORTS | 5:17145 | DOI: 10.1038/srep17145 2 www.nature.com/scientificreports/ Figure 1.