The state of the California Current, 1999-2000: Forward to a new regime?

This report is the latest in an ongoing series that describes oceanographic conditions in the coastal waters of the Californias. The emphasis here is on observations made by CalCOFI (California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries I nvestigations) and other programs during the 1999-2000 period. The physical environment off southern California shifted dramatically between 1997 and 1999 from El Nino (warm anomalies, low productivity) to La Nina (cool anoma lies, high productivity) conditions. The tropical ocean has remained in the La Nina state through 1999 and into spring 2000, while the region off sout hern California has been characterized by a vigorous, offshore-displaced Ca lifornia Current, and near-surface temperatures close to the climatological mean. Primary and secondary production in the California Current system ha ve rebounded since the biological drought of the 1997-98 El Nino. In light of the dramatic variability observed in the CalCOFI region over the past fe w years, we discuss the physical and biological future of the southern Cali fornia Current system within the context of a potential large-scale climati c regime shift.