Advective nitrate fluxes, sea surface chlorophyll concentrations and other physical metrics in the Santa Barbara Channel (2012-2019)

This data package includes 6 files: (1 & 2) In-situ nitrate concentrations at the surface and mixed layer depth, and collocated remotely-sensed and reanalysis quantities of satellite sea surface temperature, 15-day cumulative wind stress, satellite sea surface chlorophyll with a 5-day lag, index of offshore position of the California Current, indices for along-channel and across-channel distance, and index for day of the year. (3) An R script for generating generalized additive models (GAMs) to predict nitrate concentrations at the surface and at the mixed layer depth using the collocated data in files 1 & 2. (4) Daily maps of satellite sea surface chlorophyll concentrations (SSChl), High-frequency radar (HFR) surface currents, weather research and forecasting (WRF) model wind-derived vertical velocities, estimated nitrate concentrations at the surface and mixed layer depth, horizontal advective nitrate fluxes at the surface and vertical advective nitrate fluxes. (5) Daily time series of spatial mean SSChl, principal component amplitude of the first mode of variability in surface currents estimated using complex empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis, alongshore pressure gradient, wind stress, spatial mean horizontal velocities at the western and eastern Santa Barbara Channel boundaries, spatial mean vertical velocities, spatial mean surface nitrate concentrations at the channel boundaries and across the entire channel, spatial mean mixed layer depth nitrate concentrations across the entire channel, spatial mean horizontal advective nitrate fluxes at the channel boundaries, and spatial mean vertical advective nitrate fluxes. (6) A MATLAB script for plotting examples of the daily maps and time series in files 4 & 5. These data were processed in order to investigate the impact of local nutrient delivery mechanisms on phytoplankton blooms in the Santa Barbara Channel, California, details of which are available in the study: Brokaw, R.J., D.A. Siegel, L. Washburn, and C. Jones (2025). Quantifying advective nutrient fluxes and their impact on coastal phytoplankton blooms on regional scales. [In preparation for Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans.]