The West Florida Shelf (WFS), typically characterized as being oligotrophic, is
one of the most productive continental shelves in the United States. In addition to
supporting a large fishing industry, the WFS also supports high biomass blooms of the
toxic dinoflagellate
Karenia brevis. Because of the large ecological and economic
impacts these blooms have on the area, the ECOHAB: Florida program was developed to
gain a better understanding of red tides and their initiation, maintenance, and dispersal.
This interdisciplinary program consisted of monthly cruises from June 1998 through
December 2001, with a hiatus from January through March of 2001. Hydrography,
nutrients, chlorophyll
a, phaeopigments, and a wide variety of other factors were
measured during the cruises. In this paper chlorophyll
a and phaeopigment
concentration, nutrients, and hydrographic data were examined to explain the temporal
and spatial distribution of chlorophyll on the shelf.
Average surface chlorophyll values were 0.55 mg/m
3 with near bottom values
averaging 0.85 mg/m
3. Chlorophyll was found to be highest near the estuaries of Tampa
Bay and Charlotte Harbor with a decreasing gradient seaward. Near bottom chlorophyll
values were generally two to fourfold greater than surface values. Midshelf stations (35-
50 m) were characterized by high near bottom chlorophyll, whereas the offshore stations
(86-200 m) were characterized by a subsurface chlorophyll maximum ranging between
40 to 80 m deep. Nutrients were generally low across the shelf except for 1998 when a
subsurface intrusion of nutrient rich slope water reached to the 20 m isobath.
Temperatures ranged from 14.00
° C to 31.47° C. Salinity ranged from 30.5 to 37.50 in
the study area.
Four blooms of
Karenia brevis, lasting several months, contributed to the high
chlorophyll concentrations along the inner shelf. Maximum chlorophyll concentrations
of 27.10 mg/m
3 were a result of the October 1999 to March 2000 red tide. Blooms of
Trichodesmium
and diatoms also were contributors to patterns seen on the shelf.
Maximum chlorophyll values were generally highest in the late summer and fall except
for offshore values which showed little to no seasonality. Inshore of the 50 m isobath,
average phaeopigments comprised from 43 to 68 percent of the measured Chl
a, while
offshore values were from 68 to over 100 percent.
Inshore chlorophyll distributions were attributed to riverine and estuarine flux of
nutrients, localized upwelling, and recycling of nutrients aided by salinity and
temperature fronts. Midshelf distributions were attributed to the movement of
biologically important material through the bottom Ekman layer from offshore to the
inshore regions of the shelf. Offshore distributions were attributed to Loop Current
upwelling and synoptic scale processes associated with seasonal meteorological forcing.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:USF/oai:scholarcommons.usf.edu:etd-5060 |
| Date | 05 April 2006 |
| Creators | Ault, Danylle N. |
| Publisher | Scholar Commons |
| Source Sets | University of South Flordia |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Graduate Theses and Dissertations |
| Rights | default |
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