The Relevance of Biological and Hydrodynamic Timescale in the Growth of Plankton

Abstract

The relationship between hydrodynamic mesoscale structures and plankton formation in the wake of an island, as well as its interaction with a coastal upwelling, is investigated. Our focus is on the process by which vortices create localized plankton blooms. A basic three-component model for marine ecology was utilized, as well as a coupled system of kinematic flow that mimicked the mesoscale features underlying the island. We show that the prevalence of localized plankton blooms is produced mostly by the prolonged residence times of nutrients and plankton in the island's vicinity, as well as the confinement of plankton within vortices.