Abstract The California Current System experiences seasonal ocean acidification and hypoxia (OAH) owing to wind-driven upwelling, but little is known about the intensity, frequency, and depth distribution of OAH in the shallow nearshore environment. Here we present observations of OAH and dissolved inorganic carbon and nutrient parameters based on monthly transects from March 2017 to September 2018 extending from the surf zone to the ~ 40 m depth contour in La Jolla, California. Biologically concerning OAH conditions were observed at depths as shallow as 10 m and as close as 700 m to the shoreline. Below 20 m depth, 8% of observations were undersaturated with respect to aragonite, 28% of observations had a pH T less than 7.85, and 19% of observations were below the sublethal oxygen threshold of 157 µmol kg −1 . These observations raise important questions about the impacts of OAH on coastal organisms and ecosystems and how future intensified upwelling may exacerbate these conditions.
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Physical and Biogeochemical Drivers of Alongshore pH and Oxygen Variability in the California Current System
In the California Current System (CCS), the nearshore environment experiences natural exposure to low pH and reduced oxygen in response to coastal upwelling. Anthropogenic impacts further decrease pH and oxygen below biological thresholds, making the CCS particularly vulnerable to ocean acidification and hypoxia. Results from a coupled physical‐biogeochemical model reveal a strongly heterogeneous alongshore pattern of nearshore pH and oxygen in the central CCS, both in their long‐term means and trends. This spatial structuring is explained by an interplay between alongshore variability in local upwelling intensity and subsequent primary production, modulated by nearshore advection and regional geostrophic currents. The model solution suggests that the progression of ocean acidification and hypoxia will not be spatially homogeneous, thereby highlighting the need to consider subregional processes when assessing natural and anthropogenic impacts on coastal ecosystems in eastern boundary current upwelling regions.
more » « less- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10455623
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.1029
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Volume:
- 47
- Issue:
- 19
- ISSN:
- 0094-8276
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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