Multiscale upwelling forcing cycles and biological response off north-central Chile

Abstract

The physical forcing of the upwelling along the subtropical west coasts of the continents encompasses a broad range of time scales which shape both phytoplankton biomass (Chl-a) and primary productivity (carbon fixation) changes over any given time interval. The narrow continental shelf and the steep alongshore orography off north-central Chile provide for a unique combination of year-round, upwelling-favorable winds with quasi-weekly upwelling pulses associated with atmospheric coastal-trapped disturbances (coastal lows). This variability is modulated by intraseasonal oscillations in the depth of the thermo/nutricline, produced by coastal-trapped waves in the ocean, upon which annual (seasons) and interannual (ENSO) cycles are superimposed. During coastal field experiments off Cruz Grande bay (29° S), carried on in November 1987 and 1988 (opposite extremes of the ENSO cycle), mean changes of the phytoplankton-integrated Chl-a(B) and carbon fixation rate (PP) from the active to the relaxed phases of the local upwelling forcing cycle (phyto-pattern) were characterized. Those data were contrasted against similar ones reported off Punta Lengua de Vaca (Coquimbo, 30° S) and off Mejillones peninsula (Antofagasta, 23° S), encompassing different seasons and phases of intraseasonal and interannual (ENSO) cycles from 1992 to 1997. A "warm" phyto-pattern was schematically characterized by a significant increase in B and a quasi-steady evolution of PP from the active to the relaxed phases of one complete upwelling event. Conversely, relative small changes in B and a significant increase in PP characterized a "cold" phyto-pattern. It is proposed here that the ENSO "cold/warm" signal may be offset by more than one opposite "thermal" condition (seasonal and/or intraseasonal) in defining a "warm" or "cold" phyto-pattern associated with a particular cycle of the local upwelling forcing.