EDDY-INDUCED NUTRIENT SUPPLY AND NEW PRODUCTION IN THE SARGASSO SEA

A limited area, eddy resolving coupled physical and biological model i s used to examine the role of mesoscale dynamical processes in nutrien t cycling in the Sargasso Sea. Upwelling due to the formation of cyclo nic eddies and their intensification caused by interaction with surrou nding mesoscale features causes spatially and temporally intermittent fluxes of nitrate into the euphotic zone. The annual flux resulting fr om this eddy upwelling process is of the order of 0.5 mol N m(-2) year -1, which is sufficient to sustain a rate of new primary production th at is consistent with estimates for this region derived from budgets o f oxygen and other dissolved gases. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.