Impacts of wind-enhanced upwelling on nearshore biological productivity and biogeochemistry in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

On the south-east coast of South Africa it is unclear as to what extent wind-enhanced upwelling effects biological productivity and biogeochemistry. It is likely that this form of upwelling contributes to enhancing recruitment and settlement of rocky shore invertebrate larvae on the Eastern Cape coast, as well as to productivity on the Agulhas Bank, an important spawning ground for many of South Africa’s commercial fish stocks. Future climate change is predicted to have an effect on regional wind patterns and therefore on the magnitude of upwelling. It is thus essential to gain an understanding of the impact of wind-enhanced coastal upwelling on biological productivity and biogeochemical processes in order to predict changes in ecosystem function and productivity in the future. This study focuses primarily on assessing the impact that wind-enhanced upwelling has on productivity and biogeochemistry in the nearshore of a selected region of the Eastern Cape coast of South Africa.目前尚不清楚，在南非东南沿海区域，风增强上升流对生物生产力与生物地球化学过程的影响程度究竟几何。此种上升流或可促进东开普省沿岸岩岸无脊椎动物幼虫的补充与定居，同时提升厄加勒斯浅滩（Agulhas Bank）的生产力——该区域是南非诸多商业鱼类种群的重要产卵场。据预测，未来气候变化将对区域风场格局产生影响，进而改变上升流的强度。因此，为精准预测未来生态系统功能与生产力的变化，亟需阐明风增强型沿岸上升流对生物生产力及生物地球化学过程的影响。本研究主要聚焦于评估风增强上升流对南非东开普省沿岸选定区域近岸海域生产力与生物地球化学过程的影响。