Work

The distribution of nutrients in the equatorial Atlantic : relation to physical processes and phytoplankton biomass

Year: 1987

Type: article

Abstract: In the Gulf of Guinea (4 degree W), the equatorial upwelling, generated by the divergence of surface current meridional components, appears only during the boreal (northern) summer (June to September) south of the Equator and exhibits a considerable enrichment in nitrate and phosphate at the sea surface. At the Equator below the surface, there is also a seasonal nutrient enrichment due to vertical mixing or/and vertical motion of the thermocline. Zonal advection from the African coastal zone, often advanced to explain the equatorial fertility, does not completely agree with the observed surface distributions of nitrate. In the western equatorial Atlantic (35 degree W), the seasonal surface nutrient enrichment does not appear in July and the surface layer seems to remain impoverished in nutrient throughout the year.

Source: Institutional Archive of Ifremer (French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea)

Authors: Claude Oudot, Pascal Morin

Language: English

Topic: Marine Plankton and Biogeochemistry

Subfield: Oceanography

Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Life below water

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W2282156772

FWCI: 0.857

Cites: 9

Cited by: 27

Related to: 10