Dynamics of surf phytoplankton in relation to cross-shore and long-shore wind components

Abstract

The paper deals with the influence of cross-shore and long-shore component of the wind on surf phytoplankton concentration. The peaks in the cell number coincide with the peaks of positive cross-shore component (onshore drift) which confirms the earlier findings that the surf diatom 'blooms' are not due to cell division, but are also due to advective forces. While the water column is exchanged between surf-zone and nearshore, the surf phytoplankton and foam were found to be trapped within the surf-zone. It was observed that during the strong long-shore component, the cell number decreased indicating the removal of cells to the lateral boundaries of surf-zone.