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Mississippi River water in the Florida Straits and in the Gulf Stream off Georgia in summer 2004
Author(s) -
Hu Chuanmin,
Nelson James R.,
Johns Elizabeth,
Chen Zhiqiang,
Weisberg Robert H.,
MüllerKarger Frank E.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2005gl022942
Subject(s) - plume , oceanography , discharge , environmental science , salinity , colored dissolved organic matter , surface water , deep water , geology , hydrology (agriculture) , nutrient , meteorology , drainage basin , phytoplankton , geography , chemistry , cartography , geotechnical engineering , organic chemistry , environmental engineering
A coherent plume from the Mississippi River was detected in MODIS imagery in July–October 2004 extending from the eastern Gulf of Mexico into the Florida Straits (FS), and reaching the Gulf Stream (GS) off Georgia. The plume was sampled from ships in the FS and the GS. In early August, the plume was about 10–20 km wide in the western FS and about 50 km wide off Georgia. The FS ship survey (16–26 August) documented a 50 km, 10–20 m deep band with anomalies in surface salinity (−0.8), temperature (0.5°C), and surface chlorophyll concentration (2×) relative to FS waters outside the plume. Nutrient concentrations were only slightly higher in the FS plume and there was no apparent increase in colored dissolved organic matter. We estimate that the plume carried some 23% (∼2778 m 3 s −1 ) of the Mississippi River discharge between July and September 2004 into the GS.