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Physical Oceanography of the SW Atlantic Shelf: A Review

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Plankton Ecology of the Southwestern Atlantic

Abstract

The continental shelf of the western South Atlantic is characterized by three regions subject to distinct oceanographic regimes. The wide subantarctic shelf, south of approximately 35°S, is occupied by cold, low-salinity waters derived from the Subantarctic Zone and further diluted by the inflow of additional low-salinity waters, primarily from the Magellan Strait. Farther north, the shelf narrows considerably and is subject to the influence of large freshwater discharges and warm-salty intrusions of subtropical waters from the Brazil Current. Intense frontal transitions at various near shore locations and along the shelf break promote vertical circulations that inject nutrients into the upper layer. This nutrient injection leads to enhanced growth of phytoplankton, and, in some regions, to a significant uptake of atmospheric CO2. While the subantarctic shelf is under the influence of strong westerlies and high-amplitude tides, most of the subtropical shelf undergoes seasonally reversing winds and a micro-tidal regime. The shelf characteristics are also influenced by the offshore circulation, which is dominated by the equatorward flow of cold, nutrient-rich waters of the Malvinas Current in the south and the poleward flow of warm, salty, and oligotrophic waters of the Brazil Current in the north. There is a convergent large-scale mean circulation toward the transition between subantarctic and subtropical shelf waters near 34°S, which is balanced by export of shelf waters to the deep ocean. This article describes the contrasting water masses, frontal features, and circulation patterns of this region.

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Acknowledgments

This chapter summarizes research financed by the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) grant CRN3070 through the US National Science Foundation grant GEO-1128040. This work would not have been possible without the availability of hydrographic data gathered by all participating institutions. We particularly thank Ana Baldoni (INIDEP) and Marcela Charo (SHN) for their efforts in producing and disseminating high-quality data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento Oceanografía, Servicio de Hidrografía Naval (SHN), Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Alberto R. Piola, Alejandro A. Bianchi & Marina Marrari

  2. Departamento de Ciencias de la Atmósfera y los Océanos, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Alberto R. Piola, Alejandro A. Bianchi & Martín Saraceno

  3. Instituto Argentino de Oceanografía (IADO-CONICET), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas and Depatamento de Física, Universidad Nacional del Sur, Bahía Blanca, Argentina

    Elbio D. Palma

  4. Instituto Oceanográfico, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Belmiro M. Castro & Marcelo Dottori

  5. Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo Pesquero (INIDEP), Mar del Plata, Argentina

    Raul A. Guerrero

  6. College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA

    Ricardo P. Matano

  7. Instituto de Oceanografia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Rio Grande, Brazil

    Osmar O. Möller Jr

  8. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas–Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Martín Saraceno

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  1. Alberto R. Piola
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  4. Belmiro M. Castro
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  7. Marina Marrari
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  10. Martín Saraceno
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alberto R. Piola .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. CONICET, Instituto Argentino de Oceanografía, Bahía Blanca, Argentina

    Mónica S. Hoffmeyer

  2. CONICET, INIDEP, Mar del Plata, Argentina

    Marina E. Sabatini

  3. Universidade de São Paulo, Oceanographic Institute, São Paulo, Brazil

    Frederico P. Brandini

  4. Universidad de la Republica, Facultad de Ciencias+CURE, Montevideo, Uruguay

    Danilo L. Calliari

  5. Laboratorio de Hidrobiología, Universidad de la Patagonia San Juan Bosco, Trelew, Argentina

    Norma H. Santinelli

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Piola, A.R. et al. (2018). Physical Oceanography of the SW Atlantic Shelf: A Review. In: Hoffmeyer, M., Sabatini, M., Brandini, F., Calliari, D., Santinelli, N. (eds) Plankton Ecology of the Southwestern Atlantic. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77869-3_2

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