Deep ocean exchange with west-European shelf seas

Abstract

Abstract. We review mechanisms and studies of exchange between the north-east Atlantic and the adjacent shelf sea. Mechanisms include: well-developed summer upwelling and associated filaments off Portugal and north-west Spain giving exchange O(3 m2/s per unit length of shelf); prevailing westerly winds further north driving exchange O(1 m2/s); poleward flow along most of the upper slope with associated secondary circulation O(1 m2/s); meanders and eddies in this poleward flow; eddies shed from slope waters into the Bay of Biscay; local exchanges at shelf spurs and depressions or canyons (e.g. dense-water cascading of order 1 m2/s). Tidal transports are larger; their reversal every six hours makes exchange largely ineffective except where internal tides are large and non-linear, as in the Celtic Sea where solitons carry water with exchange O(1 m2/s). These various physical exchanges amount to an estimated 2–3 m2/s per unit length of shelf, between ocean and shelf; a numerical model estimate is comparable: 2.5×106 m3/s onto and off the shelf from Brittany to Norway. Mixing controls the seasonal thermocline, affecting primary production and hence fluxes and fate of organic matter. Specifically, CO2 take-up by primary production, settling below the thermocline before respiration, and then off-shelf transport, make an effective shelf-sea "pump" (for CO2 from the atmosphere to the deep ocean). However, knowledge of biogeochemical fluxes is generally sparse; there is scope for more measurements, model validation and estimates from models.