Potential new production estimates in four eastern boundary upwelling ecosystems

Nitrate supply by coastal upwelling has been estimated for four eastern boundary regions (Benguela, California, Northwest Africa and Peru) by combining surface winds measured from space and in situ vertical nitrate profiles. We use a QuikSCAT 0.25 ° × 0.25 ° weekly wind product to assess the seasonal vertical transport induced by wind forcing. The calculation is made from the coast to 150 km offshore and the wind-driven upwelling is partitioned into that contributed by Ekman transport and pumping. We assume that on the upwelling event time scale (days) the water brought to the surface originates from a depth of 60 m. Seasonal climatologies are used to estimate in situ nitrate concentration at 60 m, and nitrate supply is calculated as the product of nitrate concentration times the vertical transport obtained from QuikSCAT. This represents the potential new production, i.e. the amount of nitrate available for phytoplankton primary production, for each region. We find that Benguela, Northwest Africa and Peru have similar levels of nitrate supply and potential new production while California has about 60% of the other three.