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Abstract The California Current System is characterized by upwelling and rich mesoscale eddy activity. Cyclonic eddies generally pinch off from meanders in the California Current, potentially trapping upwelled water along the coast and transporting it offshore. Here, we use satellite-derived measurements of particulate organic carbon (POC) as a tracer of coastal water to show that cyclones located offshore that were generated near the coast contain higher carbon concentrations in their interior than cyclones of the same amplitude generated offshore. This indicates that eddies are in fact trapping and transporting coastal water offshore, resulting in an offshore POC enrichment of 20.9 ± 11 Gg year⁻¹. This POC enrichment due to the coastally-generated eddies extends for 1000 km from shore. This analysis provides large-scale observational-based evidence that eddies play a quantitatively important role in the offshore transport of coastal water, substantially widening the area influenced by highly productive upwelled waters in the California Current System. 

Abstract Coastal waters in the Labrador Sea are influenced by the seasonal input of meltwater from the Greenland ice sheet, which is predicted to more than double by the end of the century. Mechanisms controlling the offshore export of meltwater can have a significant effect on stratification and vertical stability in the Labrador Sea, being particularly important if the meltwater is transported toward the interior of the basin where winter convection occurs. Here we use a high‐resolution ocean model to show that coastal upwelling winds play a critical role transporting the meltwater offshore to about 150 km from the coast, where increased eddy activity and mean circulation can then transport the meltwater farther offshore. While meltwater discharged from West Greenland is either transported to Baffin Bay or circumnavigates the basin flowing mostly along isobaths, meltwater from East Greenland can reach the interior of the basin where it may influence stratification and winter convection whenever winds are anomalously upwelling favorable in late summer and early fall.