Publication Date:
2022-05-26
Description:
© The Author(s), 2013. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography 103 (2014): 96–111, doi:10.1016/j.dsr2.2013.11.003.
Description:
The life cycle of Alexandrium fundyense in the Gulf of Maine includes a dormant cyst stage that spends the winter predominantly in the bottom sediment. Wave-current bottom stress caused by storms and tides induces resuspension of cyst-containing sediment during winter and spring. Resuspended sediment could be transported by water flow to different locations in the Gulf and the redistribution of sediment containing A. fundyense cysts could alter the spatial and temporal manifestation of its spring bloom. The present study evaluates model near-bottom flow during storms, when sediment resuspension and redistribution are most likely to occur, between October and May when A. fundyense cells are predominantly in cyst form. Simulated water column sediment (mud) concentrations from representative locations of the Gulf are used to initialize particle tracking simulations for the period October 2010–May 2011. Particles are tracked in full three-dimensional model solutions including a sinking velocity characteristic of cyst and aggregated mud settling (0.1 mm s−1). Although most of the material was redeposited near the source areas, small percentages of total resuspended sediment from some locations in the western (~4%) and eastern (2%) Maine shelf and the Bay of Fundy (1%) traveled distances longer than 100 km before resettling. The redistribution changed seasonally and was sensitive to the prescribed sinking rate. Estimates of the amount of cysts redistributed with the sediment were small compared to the inventory of cysts in the upper few centimeters of sediment but could potentially have more relevance immediately after deposition.
Description:
Research support to all authors, except DJM and VAS, was provided by U.S. Geological Survey. DJM gratefully acknowledges financial support of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Grant NA06NOS4780245 for the Gulf of Maine Toxicity (GOMTOX) program) and the Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health through National Science Foundation Grant OCE-1314642 and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Grant 1P01ES021923-01. VAS was supported by the North East Consortium Grant NA05NMF4721057.
Keywords:
Sediment connectivity
;
Near-bottom circulation
;
Harmful Algal Bloom cysts
;
Gulf of Maine
;
Alexandrium fundyense
;
Particle tracking
Repository Name:
Woods Hole Open Access Server
Type:
Article
Format:
application/pdf
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