Relation between Upwelling Intensity and the Variability of Physical and Chemical Parameters in the Southern Benguela Upwelling System

Abstract

The extent to which wind-driven seasonal upwelling cycles manifest in surface ocean temperature and nutrient variability along a monitoring line in the Southern Benguela upwelling system was investigated. Monitoring conducted monthly over a six-year period shows that surface temperature and nutrient concentrations exhibit very poor seasonality and weak correlation with the upwelling index. This is, despite clear evidence for spatial inshore-offshore gradients in temperature, nutrients, and chlorophyll, consistent with an upwelling regime. The upper ocean temperature gradient shows a much better correspondence to the upwelling index but at the same time demonstrates that surface heating, and not vertical mixing related to upwelling, controls the upper ocean temperature gradient. The results suggest that remote sensing techniques would be inadequate tools to monitor upwelling events in the Southern Benguela. Also, the incidence of phytoplankton blooms is more likely triggered by stratified conditions associated with surface heating than relaxation of upwelling winds.