Award: OCE-1032276

The project seeks to understand the oceanographic conditions that result in wintertime phytoplankton blooms on the outer shelf/upper slope off Long Bay,SC. Previous work has identified this area as one in which blooms are more persistent than elsewhere along the coastline. A significant field effort was mounted during winter 2011/2012. Oceanographic instruments were anchored at 3 sites across the continental shelf and upper slope; two underwater gliders were operated simultaneously over 3 month-long periods, from mid-January to mid-April 2012; and three separate week-long cruises on a research ship surveyed the area surrounding the instruments to document across-shelf and along-shelf variability. The sampling captured 3 week-long phytoplankton blooms. Since the field program was completed, the project focus has been on processing the collected observations and synthesizing the results. The majority of the observations have now been processed and submitted a data center and are available at http://www.bco-dmo.org/project/2151. Initial syntheses have led to a number of presentations at national and international conferences and the preparation of several manuscripts. One emphasis has been the identification of a strong, narrow, jet-like current that occurs just seaward of the shelf and which may isolate the shelf from offshore waters. The project was successful in mapping the time-evolving 3D ocean temperature, salinity, circulation and phytoplankton fields. Our initial analysis has focused on describing the physical environment. We are presently focused on mapping the phytoplankton blooms and will consider next how these relate to the physical environment. We have been able to rule out several proposed mechanisms for fueling the blooms with offshore waters and suspect the blooms are largely fueled by processes on the shelf. Last Modified: 01/06/2016 Submitted by: Harvey E Seim