UC Santa Cruz

Mesoscale eddies in the Gulf of Alaska are thought to contribute to

the shelf-slope exchange of nutrients and plankton, enhancing biological production. We report on a study of two anticyclonic mesoscale eddies in this region observed through in situ sampling during August and September 2007. Both eddies exhibited in their cores theta-S profiles with warmer, fresher water relative to the properties of the ambient basin water between 150 and 300 m depth.

Hydrographic properties and satellite altimetry data were analyzed

to identify likely formation regions for each feature. One eddy, sampled near Yakutat, Alaska, originated in the Sitka formation region (221-223° E); the second eddy, sampled south of Kodiak Island, originated near the Kenai Peninsula, southeast of the Kennedy and Stevenson entrances to Cook Inlet — an area not previously studied as a formation region. Subsequent analysis of 16 years of satellite altimeter data (from 1992 to 2008) with an algorithm designed to identify and track eddies revealed approximately 6 Kenai eddies that have formed in this region. Although this number constitutes only 3.2% of the 188 eddies identified by the algorithm during this period, it represents 15.4% of the 39 eddies that formed in or propagated westward into the Alaskan Stream.