CROSS-SHELF SEDIMENT TRANSPORT BY AN ANTICYCLONIC EDDY OFF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

A combination of satellite imagery, shipboard profiles, drifter tracks , and moored current observations reveals that an anticyclonic eddy of f the coast of northern California transported plumes of suspended sed iments from the continental shelf into the deep ocean. The horizontal scale of the eddy was about 90 kilometers, and the eddy remained over the continental shelf and slope for about 2 months during the summer o f 1988. The total mass of sediments transported by the eddy was of ord er 10(5) metric tons. Mesoscale eddies are recurrent features in this region and occur frequently in eastern boundary currents. These result s provide direct evidence that eddies export sediments from continenta l shelves.