Salt and Heat Budgets for the Gulf of St. Lawrence
- 1 September 1981
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Canadian Science Publishing in Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
- Vol. 38 (9) , 1153-1167
- https://doi.org/10.1139/f81-155
Abstract
A simple box model expressing conservation of salt, heat, and mass for the top 50 m of four regions of the Gulf of St. Lawrence was developed. All available temperature and salinity data were combined with monthly estimates of freshwater input and surface heat flux to obtain an idea of the average annual variation in vertical and horizontal exchanges for the period March through December. Calculated horizontal transports agreed very well with available geostrophic calculations, and nutrient fluxes implied by the calculated upwelling of water from below 50 m are capable of supporting the estimated primary production in the Estuary and Northwestern Gulf. The main effect of the increasing freshwater discharge and surface heat flux in the spring seems to be a decrease in eddy exchange between the surface and deeper layers due to increased stratification.Key words: upwelling, horizontal transport, nutrient fluxThis publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit:
- Seaward Nutrient Transport in the Lower St. Lawrence EstuaryJournal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada, 1976
- Coastal Circulation and Physical Oceanography of the Scotian Shelf and the Gulf of MaineJournal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada, 1976
- The cold layer in the Gulf of St. LawrenceJournal of Geophysical Research, 1966