Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Environmental Sciences: A Students Companion

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
The Holocene
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplementary Material
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Web of Science (3)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Austin, W. E. N.
Right arrow Articles by Scourse, J. D.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Mid-latitude shelf seas: a NW European perspective on the seasonal dynamics of temperature, salinity and oxygen isotopes

W. E. N. Austin

University of St Andrews, UK, wena{at}st-andrews.ac.uk

A. G. Cage

University of St Andrews, UK

J. D. Scourse

University of Wales, Bangor, UK

Pronounced seasonal variability, particularly in the surface ocean heat flux, imparts an important control that drives thermal stratification of the tide-dominated middle-and high-latitude shelf seas. Bottom water temperature and salinity data, resolved on a grid 20’ latitude by 30’ longitude, were combined with a regional synthesis of the salinity: {delta}18O relationship in order to generate a spatial and temporal understanding of oxygen isotopes in seawater around the shelf seas of NW Europe. The data are expressed according to equilibrium calcite ({delta}18OEq.calcite) and, in the shallow mixed water column, exhibit large seasonal changes that are primarily driven by bottom water temperature. Annual bottom water temperature varies from < 3°C to >17°C in the southern North Sea, generating a seasonal {delta}18OEq.calcite signal of up to 3.2%. The amplitude of the seasonal d18OEq.calcite signal is significantly damped (0.1 - 0.2o/oo) in deeper, thermally stratified shelf waters. Maps of the monthly distribution {delta}18OEq.calcite provide the first systematic overview of the spatial and temporal changes on the NW European shelf and highlight the importance of understanding seasonal growth on the incorporation of geochemical signatures into marine organisms.

Key Words: Shelf seas • oxygen isotopes • temperature • salinity • seasonality • HOLSMEER project

The Holocene, Vol. 16, No. 7, 937-947 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0959683606hl985rp
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Geological Society, London, Special PublicationsHome page
A. G. Cage and W. E. N. Austin
Seasonal dynamics of coastal water masses in a Scottish fjord and their potential influence on benthic foraminiferal shell geochemistry
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, January 1, 2008; 303(1): 155 - 172.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 The HoloceneHome page
J. Scourse, H. P. Sejrup, P. D. Jones, and HOLSMEER project participants
Editorial: Late Holocene oceanographic and climate change from the western European margin: the results of the HOLSMEER project
The Holocene, November 1, 2006; 16(7): 931 - 935.
[Abstract] [PDF]