Retention and dispersal of shelf waters influenced by interactions of ocean boundary current and coastal geography
Ming Feng A C , Dirk Slawinski A , Lynnath E. Beckley B and John K. Keesing AA CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, Floreat, WA 6014, Australia.
B School of Environmental Science, Murdoch University, 90 South Street, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia.
C Corresponding author. Email: ming.feng@csiro.au
Marine and Freshwater Research 61(11) 1259-1267 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF09275
Submitted: 30 October 2009 Accepted: 24 May 2010 Published: 16 November 2010
Abstract
Retention and dispersal of shelf waters under the influence of ocean boundary currents is crucial to recruitment processes of many coastal species. In this study, a Lagrangian particle tracking method based on an eddy-resolving, data-assimilating, hydrodynamic model is used to study spatial variations of local retention rates and alongshore dispersal of surface waters on the continental shelf off the west coast of Australia. The circulation on the shelf off the west coast of Australia is dominated by the southward-flowing eastern boundary current, the Leeuwin Current, which is interrupted by episodic wind-driven, northward, inshore surface transport during the austral summer, and by mesoscale eddy formations during the austral winter. Low-retention shelf regions tend to experience high alongshore currents, owing to the near-shore influence of the Leeuwin Current, protruding coastal geography, or formation of mesoscale eddies, whereas high-retention regions are sheltered from the direct influence of the Leeuwin Current by coastal geographic features. Alongshore dispersal also exhibits spatial as well as seasonal heterogeneity, with predominantly southward dispersal during the austral winter, and more symmetrical dispersal during the austral summer. Shelf retention and seasonal dispersal are linked with recruitment processes of invertebrate and fish species off the west coast of Australia.
Additional keywords: Capes Current, connectivity, Lagrangian particle tracking, Leeuwin Current.
Acknowledgements
This work was funded by Western Australian Marine Science Institution and CSIRO Wealth from Oceans National Research Flagship. We thank Russ Babcock, Peter Craig, Jim Gunson, and Nick Mortimer for valuable comments on an early draft of this paper. We would like to thank the MFR Editor, Andrew Boulton, and Scott Condie, Mary Batteen, and one anonymous reviewer for providing constructive comments.
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