Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1982

Publication Title

Journal of Marine Research

Volume

40

Issue

3

Pages

679-699

Abstract

Hydrographic and current meter data from Onslow Bay, North Carolina, were examined to determine the relative importance of various nutrient sources.

Upwelled Gulf Stream water is the major source of nutrients while rivers represent a minor, if not insignificant, source. In the summer during stratified conditions, the upwelled water penetrates across the shelf, but in the winter the upwelled water is restricted to the outer shelf. Nitrate flux across the 40 m isobath was calculated from continuous temperature and current records. Flux during the summer of 1976 was 2 μM m2 sec-1 which is considerably less than flux estimations for the Georgia shelf or Scotia shelf.

In the climatic scale a cooler climate causing denser shelf water would decrease the nutrient flux into the Bay, while a warmer climate causing less dense shelf water would increase the flux of nutrients into central shelf water.

Rights

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Publisher's version available at:

http://journalofmarineresearch.org

Original Publication Citation

Atkinson, L., Pietrafesa, L., & Hofmann, E. (1982). An evaluation of nutrient sources to Onslow Bay, North Carolina. Journal of Marine Research, 40(3), 679-699.

ORCID

0000-0003-2919-100X (Atkinson)

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