Skip Navigation

ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil 1998 55(4):610-619; doi:10.1006/jmsc.1998.0395
© 1998 by ICES/CIEM International Council for the Exploration of the Sea/Conseil International pour l'Exploration de la Mer
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Aure, J.
Right arrow Articles by Svendsen, E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Aure, J.
Right arrow Articles by Svendsen, E.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

The origin of Skagerrak coastal water off Arendal in relation to variations in nutrient concentrations

Jan Aure, Didrik Danielssen and Einar Svendsen

Institute of Marine Research PO Box 1870, N-5024, Bergen, Norway
Institute of Marine Research, Flødevigen Marine Research Station N-4817, His, Norway

Correspondence to J. Aure: tel: +47 55238500; fax: +47 55238584, e-mail: jan.aure{at}imr.no

Evidence is provided that Skagerrak Coastal Water (0–30 m off Arendal) during winter and spring is a physical mixture of two main water masses entering the Skagerrak: Jutland Coastal Water (average 75%) and Kattegat Surface Water (average 25%). Jutland Coastal Water is itself composed of German Bight Water and Southern/Central North Sea Water. These water masses contribute on average 55% and 20%, respectively, to Skagerrak Coastal Water. Inorganic nutrient concentrations are largely determined by the concentrations in the parent water masses, with Kattegat Surface Water contributing 6–20% and German Bight Water 60–80% to the nitrate concentration, and 20–30% and 40–50% to the phosphate concentration, respectively. The rest originates from Southern/Central North Sea Water. Observed nitrate concentrations, and the N:P ratio, off Arendal during this time of the year have approximately doubled since the 1980s. Very similar results were obtained when calculating the expected concentration based on the relative contributions of the parent water masses, which suggests that the increase in Skagerrak Coastal Water is mainly caused by the increased nitrate concentration in the German Bight. Available data suggest that the large inter-annual variability in nitrate concentration in the Skagerrak area is partly explained by river run-off to the southern North Sea. Variability in phosphate and silicate was much smaller and apparently less dependent on run-off.

Keywords: nutrients, Skagerrak, variability


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Proc R Soc BHome page
K. Lekve, E. Bagoien, E. Dahl, B. Edvardsen, M. Skogen, and N. C. Stenseth
Environmental forcing as a main determinant of bloom dynamics of the Chrysochromulina algae
Proc R Soc B, December 22, 2006; 273(1605): 3047 - 3055.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.