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Abstract The Amazon River is a large source of terrigenous dissolved organic carbon (tDOC) to the Atlantic Ocean. The fate of this tDOC in the ocean remains unclear despite its importance to the global carbon cycle. Here, we used two decades of satellite ocean color to describe variability in tDOC in the Amazon River plume. Our analyses showed that tDOC distribution has a distinct seasonal pattern, reaching northwest toward the Caribbean during high discharge periods, and moving eastward entrained in the North Brazil Current retroflection during low discharge periods. Elevated tDOC content extended beyond the shelfbreak in all months of the year, suggesting that cross‐shelf carbon transport occurs year‐round. Maximum variability was found at the plume core, where seasonality accounted for 40% of the total variance, while interannual variability accounted for 15% of the variance. Our results revealed a seasonal pattern in tDOC removal over the shelf with increased consumption in May when river discharge is high. Anomalies in tDOC removal over the shelf with respect to the seasonal cycle were significantly correlated with anomalies in tDOC concentration offshore of the shelfbreak with a lag of 30–40 days, so that anomalously high inshore tDOC removal was associated with anomalously low tDOC content offshore. This suggests that variability in the offshore transport of tDOC in the Amazon River plume is modulated by interannual changes in tDOC removal over the shelf.
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This content will become publicly available on August 8, 2026
Spatio-temporal variability of San Francisco Bay Plume from space
As brackish turbid waters exit San Francisco Bay, one of the largest estuaries in the U.S. West Coast, they form the San Francisco Bay Plume (SFBP), which spreads offshore and influences the Gulf of the Farallones (GoF), an ecologically significant region in the California Current System that is also home to three National Marine Sanctuaries. This paper provides the first observationally based investigation of the spatio-temporal variability of the SFBP, using a plume tracking algorithm applied to more than two decades (2002-2023) of ocean color data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor onboard satellites Aqua and Terra. The turbid SFBP spreads radially, extending 10-20 km offshore around 50% of the time, and during extreme discharge events (<1% of the time), the plume can reach nearly 60 km offshore to the shelf break. The greatest variability in frequency of plume occurrence was observed 10-20 km offshore and it was largely explained by the seasonal cycle (80% of total variance), linked primarily to seasonal changes in river discharge. Largest plume areas (determined by summing up all pixel areas weighted by their respective fraction of plume occurrence) were observed during winter and smallest during summer, occupying on average 24% and 1.5% of GoF area, respectively. Beyond 20-30 km offshore, variability in frequency of plume occurrence was dominated by the intraseasonal band (50-80% of total variance), attributed to plume response to synoptic wind-forcing and/or filaments and eddies, while the interannual band played a secondary role in the plume variability (<20% of total variance). Finally, a multivariable linear regression model of the turbid SFBP area was created to explore the potential predictability of the plume’s influence in the GoF. The model included the annual and semi-annual cycles and discharge anomalies (deseasoned and detrended), and despite its simplicity, it explained over 78% of total variance of the turbid SFBP area. Therefore, it could be a useful tool for scientists and stakeholders to better understand how management actions on freshwater supply can have consequences offshore beyond the Golden Gate and help guide future management decisions in this ecologically important region.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1948921
- PAR ID:
- 10638725
- Publisher / Repository:
- Frontiers in Marine Science
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Frontiers in Marine Science
- Volume:
- 12
- ISSN:
- 2296-7745
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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