Ocean Circulation Over North Atlantic Underwater Features in the Path of the Mediterranean Outflow Water: The Ormonde and Formigas Seamounts, and the Gazul Mud Volcano
Seamounts constitute an obstacle to the ocean circulation, modifying it. As a result, a variety of hydrodynamical processes and phenomena may take place over seamounts, among others, flow intensification, current deflection, upwelling, Taylor caps, and internal waves. These oceanographic effects may...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2019-12-01
|
Series: | Frontiers in Marine Science |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmars.2019.00702/full |
id |
doaj-94f2a26c02f1463587f61f6bee715dfe |
---|---|
record_format |
Article |
spelling |
doaj-94f2a26c02f1463587f61f6bee715dfe2020-11-25T02:20:05ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Marine Science2296-77452019-12-01610.3389/fmars.2019.00702444783Ocean Circulation Over North Atlantic Underwater Features in the Path of the Mediterranean Outflow Water: The Ormonde and Formigas Seamounts, and the Gazul Mud VolcanoÁngela Mosquera Giménez0Pedro Vélez-Belchí1Jesús Rivera2Safo Piñeiro3Noelia Fajar4Verónica Caínzos5Rosa Balbín6Juan Antonio Jiménez Aparicio7Carlos Dominguez-Carrió8Jordi Blasco-Ferre9Marina Carreiro-Silva10Telmo Morato11Patricia Puerta12Covadonga Orejas13Centro Oceanográfico de Canarias, Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, SpainCentro Oceanográfico de Canarias, Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, SpainServicios Centrales, Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Madrid, SpainCentro Oceanográfico de Baleares, Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Palma, SpainCentro Oceanográfico de A Coruña, Instituto Español de Oceanografía, A Coruña, SpainIOCAG, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Instituto de Oceanografiìa y Cambio Global, ULPGC, Unidad Asociada ULPGC-CSIC, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, SpainCentro Oceanográfico de Baleares, Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Palma, SpainCentro Oceanográfico de Baleares, Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Palma, SpainMarine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Centro OKEANOS, Instituto do Mar, Universidade dos Açores, Horta, PortugalMarine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Centro OKEANOS, Instituto do Mar, Universidade dos Açores, Horta, PortugalMarine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Centro OKEANOS, Instituto do Mar, Universidade dos Açores, Horta, PortugalMarine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Centro OKEANOS, Instituto do Mar, Universidade dos Açores, Horta, PortugalCentro Oceanográfico de Baleares, Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Palma, SpainCentro Oceanográfico de Baleares, Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Palma, SpainSeamounts constitute an obstacle to the ocean circulation, modifying it. As a result, a variety of hydrodynamical processes and phenomena may take place over seamounts, among others, flow intensification, current deflection, upwelling, Taylor caps, and internal waves. These oceanographic effects may turn seamounts into very productive ecosystems with high species diversity, and in some cases, are densely populated by benthic organisms, such corals, gorgonians, and sponges. In this study, we describe the oceanographic conditions over seamounts and other underwater features in the path of the Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW), where populations of benthic suspensions feeders have been observed. Using CTD, LADPC and biochemical measurements carried out in the Ormonde and Formigas seamounts and the Gazul mud volcano (Northeast Atlantic), we show that Taylor caps were not observed in any of the sampled features. However, we point out that the relatively high values of the Brunt–Väisälä frequency in the MOW halocline, in conjunction with the slope of the seamount flanks, set up conditions for the breakout of internal waves and amplification of the currents. This may enhance the vertical mixing, resuspending the organic material deposited on the seafloor and, therefore, increasing the food availability for the communities dominated by benthic suspension feeders. Thus, we hypothesize that internal waves could be improving the conditions for benthic suspension feeders to grow on the slope of seamounts.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmars.2019.00702/fullseamountsMediterranean Outflow WaterTaylor columns/capsinternal wavescold-water corals |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Ángela Mosquera Giménez Pedro Vélez-Belchí Jesús Rivera Safo Piñeiro Noelia Fajar Verónica Caínzos Rosa Balbín Juan Antonio Jiménez Aparicio Carlos Dominguez-Carrió Jordi Blasco-Ferre Marina Carreiro-Silva Telmo Morato Patricia Puerta Covadonga Orejas |
spellingShingle |
Ángela Mosquera Giménez Pedro Vélez-Belchí Jesús Rivera Safo Piñeiro Noelia Fajar Verónica Caínzos Rosa Balbín Juan Antonio Jiménez Aparicio Carlos Dominguez-Carrió Jordi Blasco-Ferre Marina Carreiro-Silva Telmo Morato Patricia Puerta Covadonga Orejas Ocean Circulation Over North Atlantic Underwater Features in the Path of the Mediterranean Outflow Water: The Ormonde and Formigas Seamounts, and the Gazul Mud Volcano Frontiers in Marine Science seamounts Mediterranean Outflow Water Taylor columns/caps internal waves cold-water corals |
author_facet |
Ángela Mosquera Giménez Pedro Vélez-Belchí Jesús Rivera Safo Piñeiro Noelia Fajar Verónica Caínzos Rosa Balbín Juan Antonio Jiménez Aparicio Carlos Dominguez-Carrió Jordi Blasco-Ferre Marina Carreiro-Silva Telmo Morato Patricia Puerta Covadonga Orejas |
author_sort |
Ángela Mosquera Giménez |
title |
Ocean Circulation Over North Atlantic Underwater Features in the Path of the Mediterranean Outflow Water: The Ormonde and Formigas Seamounts, and the Gazul Mud Volcano |
title_short |
Ocean Circulation Over North Atlantic Underwater Features in the Path of the Mediterranean Outflow Water: The Ormonde and Formigas Seamounts, and the Gazul Mud Volcano |
title_full |
Ocean Circulation Over North Atlantic Underwater Features in the Path of the Mediterranean Outflow Water: The Ormonde and Formigas Seamounts, and the Gazul Mud Volcano |
title_fullStr |
Ocean Circulation Over North Atlantic Underwater Features in the Path of the Mediterranean Outflow Water: The Ormonde and Formigas Seamounts, and the Gazul Mud Volcano |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ocean Circulation Over North Atlantic Underwater Features in the Path of the Mediterranean Outflow Water: The Ormonde and Formigas Seamounts, and the Gazul Mud Volcano |
title_sort |
ocean circulation over north atlantic underwater features in the path of the mediterranean outflow water: the ormonde and formigas seamounts, and the gazul mud volcano |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
series |
Frontiers in Marine Science |
issn |
2296-7745 |
publishDate |
2019-12-01 |
description |
Seamounts constitute an obstacle to the ocean circulation, modifying it. As a result, a variety of hydrodynamical processes and phenomena may take place over seamounts, among others, flow intensification, current deflection, upwelling, Taylor caps, and internal waves. These oceanographic effects may turn seamounts into very productive ecosystems with high species diversity, and in some cases, are densely populated by benthic organisms, such corals, gorgonians, and sponges. In this study, we describe the oceanographic conditions over seamounts and other underwater features in the path of the Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW), where populations of benthic suspensions feeders have been observed. Using CTD, LADPC and biochemical measurements carried out in the Ormonde and Formigas seamounts and the Gazul mud volcano (Northeast Atlantic), we show that Taylor caps were not observed in any of the sampled features. However, we point out that the relatively high values of the Brunt–Väisälä frequency in the MOW halocline, in conjunction with the slope of the seamount flanks, set up conditions for the breakout of internal waves and amplification of the currents. This may enhance the vertical mixing, resuspending the organic material deposited on the seafloor and, therefore, increasing the food availability for the communities dominated by benthic suspension feeders. Thus, we hypothesize that internal waves could be improving the conditions for benthic suspension feeders to grow on the slope of seamounts. |
topic |
seamounts Mediterranean Outflow Water Taylor columns/caps internal waves cold-water corals |
url |
https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmars.2019.00702/full |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT angelamosqueragimenez oceancirculationovernorthatlanticunderwaterfeaturesinthepathofthemediterraneanoutflowwatertheormondeandformigasseamountsandthegazulmudvolcano AT pedrovelezbelchi oceancirculationovernorthatlanticunderwaterfeaturesinthepathofthemediterraneanoutflowwatertheormondeandformigasseamountsandthegazulmudvolcano AT jesusrivera oceancirculationovernorthatlanticunderwaterfeaturesinthepathofthemediterraneanoutflowwatertheormondeandformigasseamountsandthegazulmudvolcano AT safopineiro oceancirculationovernorthatlanticunderwaterfeaturesinthepathofthemediterraneanoutflowwatertheormondeandformigasseamountsandthegazulmudvolcano AT noeliafajar oceancirculationovernorthatlanticunderwaterfeaturesinthepathofthemediterraneanoutflowwatertheormondeandformigasseamountsandthegazulmudvolcano AT veronicacainzos oceancirculationovernorthatlanticunderwaterfeaturesinthepathofthemediterraneanoutflowwatertheormondeandformigasseamountsandthegazulmudvolcano AT rosabalbin oceancirculationovernorthatlanticunderwaterfeaturesinthepathofthemediterraneanoutflowwatertheormondeandformigasseamountsandthegazulmudvolcano AT juanantoniojimenezaparicio oceancirculationovernorthatlanticunderwaterfeaturesinthepathofthemediterraneanoutflowwatertheormondeandformigasseamountsandthegazulmudvolcano AT carlosdominguezcarrio oceancirculationovernorthatlanticunderwaterfeaturesinthepathofthemediterraneanoutflowwatertheormondeandformigasseamountsandthegazulmudvolcano AT jordiblascoferre oceancirculationovernorthatlanticunderwaterfeaturesinthepathofthemediterraneanoutflowwatertheormondeandformigasseamountsandthegazulmudvolcano AT marinacarreirosilva oceancirculationovernorthatlanticunderwaterfeaturesinthepathofthemediterraneanoutflowwatertheormondeandformigasseamountsandthegazulmudvolcano AT telmomorato oceancirculationovernorthatlanticunderwaterfeaturesinthepathofthemediterraneanoutflowwatertheormondeandformigasseamountsandthegazulmudvolcano AT patriciapuerta oceancirculationovernorthatlanticunderwaterfeaturesinthepathofthemediterraneanoutflowwatertheormondeandformigasseamountsandthegazulmudvolcano AT covadongaorejas oceancirculationovernorthatlanticunderwaterfeaturesinthepathofthemediterraneanoutflowwatertheormondeandformigasseamountsandthegazulmudvolcano |
_version_ |
1724873663812993024 |