Altimeter-derived poleward Lagrangian pathways in the California Current System: Part 1

Abstract

We use altimeter-derived geostrophic velocities, with and without the addition of surface Ekman transports, to create trajectories for virtual parcels in the California Current System (CCS). The goal is to investigate the poleward transport of passive water parcels in the surface 50–100 m of the nominally equatorward system. Motivation for the study is provided by observations of anomalous biomass of copepods with warm water affinities along the Newport Hydrographic Line off central Oregon (44.7°N) during El Niño years, as well as during and following the 2014–2016 marine heat wave. By backward tracking virtual parcels from 44.7°N, we find that the most distant source of passive water parcels in the upper ocean during a one-year period of travel is from within the Southern California Bight (SCB), north of 30°N. To make that journey, parcels use the Inshore Countercurrent off southern and central California during summer–winter and the Davidson Current off northern California and Oregon during autumn–winter. The inclusion of small-scale eddy diffusion usually increases the number of parcels that reach more northern latitudes, while the inclusion of Ekman velocities more often reduces those numbers. Even so, parcels can travel from the SCB to central Oregon in either the Ekman layer or beneath it in the geostrophic flow. Using backward tracking, we find that parcels arrive at 44.7°N most often in winter–spring, least often in autumn. They arrive from within the large-cape region off northern California (41°–42°N) during all years and all months, from just south of the large-cape region (38°–39°N) during most years but seldom in autumn, from south of Monterey Bay along central California (36°N) and within the SCB (34.5°N) during a third (or less) of the years and only in winter-spring. The shortest average transit times are found in winter: for parcels reaching 44.7°N in February, the average transit time is 2 months for parcels coming from 41°–42°N, 4 months for parcels coming from 38°–39°N, and 5–6 months or more for parcels coming from south of 36°N. Transit times increase as the arrival time progresses from winter to autumn. The longest average transit times are for parcels reaching central Oregon in autumn (9–12 months in October for parcels coming from south of 39°N). This makes the journey a multi-generational task for the copepods. Interannual variability in the observed southern copepod species biomass off central Oregon correlates highly with years when more virtual parcels from the south reach central and northern Oregon, providing increased confidence in the results found with the altimeter-derived parcel trajectories.