The Clyde Sea is a deep, partially enclosed basin on the West Coast of
Scotland which communicates with the adjacent North Channel of the Ir
ish Sea via exchange flow over a relatively shallow entrance sill. The
basin receives large inputs of nutrient rich freshwater which induces
a reduction in surface salinities of up to 1.5 psu and maintains almo
st continuous stratification. Time series data collected in the area s
how a well defined seasonal cycle of stratification which has previous
ly been explained with the aid of a one-dimensional filling box model.
This model has been extended to examine the extent to which the obser
ved seasonal cycles of nitrate and chlorophyll can be explained by the
stepwise inclusion of additional non-conservative terms. The results
show that, as a result of the interaction between the physical and bio
logical seasonal cycles, nitrate accumulates in the Clyde Sea during t
he summer, which is then supplied to the North Channel of the Irish Se
a during the winter and spring. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.