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High‐resolution surveys of oceanographic and atmospheric conditions made during the winter over the inner shelf off northwest Australia are used to examine the coastal ocean response to large outgoing heat and freshwater fluxes. Relatively cool, low‐humidity air blows off the Australian continent out over the tropical continental shelf, resulting in a large mean latent heat flux (−177 W m−2) that overwhelms insolation and, along with the outgoing long‐wave radiation, results in substantial net cooling (−105 W m−2) and evaporative freshwater flux (0.6 cm d−1). The inner shelf is characterized by increasingly cool, salty, and dense waters onshore, with a strong front near the 25 m isobath. The front is evident in satellite sea surface temperature (SST) imagery along the majority of the northwest Australian shelf, exhibiting a complex filamentary and eddy structure. Cross‐shelf buoyancy fluxes estimated from the mean, two‐dimensional heat and salt budgets are comparable to parameterizations of cross‐shelf eddy driven fluxes; however, the same fluxes can be achieved by cross‐shelf transports in the bottom boundary layer of about 0.5 m2 s−1 (and an overlying return flow).

Analysis of sea surface temperature (SST) from coastal buoys suggests that the summertime over‐shelf water temperature off the U.S. West Coast has been declining during the past 30 years at an average rate of −0.19°C decade−1. This cooling trend manifests itself more strongly off south‐central California than off Oregon and northern California. The variability and trend in the upwelling north of off San Francisco are positively correlated with those of the equatorward wind, indicating a role of offshore Ekman transport in the north. In contrast, Ekman pumping associated with wind stress curls better explains the stronger and statistically more significant cooling trend in the south. While the coast‐wide variability and trend in SST are strongly correlated with those of large‐scale modes of climate variability, they in general fail to explain the southward intensification of the trend in SST and wind stress curl. This result suggests that the local wind stress curl, often topographically forced, may have played a role in the upwelling trend pattern. Key Points Summer SST off the U.S. West Coast has been declining since the 1980s Cooling trend is more significant in Central and Southern California Ekman pumping explains the stronger cooling trend in the south

High‐resolution hydrographic measurements collected along the southern edge of Georges Bank during March and June–July 1997 focused on characterizing processes that drive fluxes of material between the slope and bank. Wintertime sampling characterized changes driven by a strong storm. A Scotian Shelf crossover event produced a ribbon of anomalously fresh water along the bank's southern flank that was diluted during the storm. Comparison of prestorm and poststorm sections shows that over the bank changes in heat and salt inventories are consistent with those expected solely from local surface fluxes. In deeper waters, advective effects, likely associated with frontal motion and eddies, are clearly important. Summertime surveys resolve the development of a massive intrusion of Gulf Stream‐like waters onto the bank. East of the intrusion, a thin extrusion of bank water is drawn outward by the developing ring, exporting fresher water at a rate of about 7 × 104 m3/s. A large‐amplitude Gulf Stream meander appears to initiate the extrusion, but it quickly evolves, near the bank edge, into a warm core ring. Ring water intrudes to approximately the 80 m isobath, 40 km inshore from the bank edge. The intrusion process seems analogous to the development of Gulf Stream shingles (a hydrodynamic instability) in the South Atlantic Bight. It appears that, once the intruded water is established on the bank, it remains there and dissipates in place. Although the intrusion is an extremely dramatic event, it is probably not actually a major contributor to shelf edge exchanges over a seasonal time scale.

Spring conditions at the shelf break in the Middle Atlantic Bight mark the transition period between the generally well-mixed shelf water in winter and the highly stratified shelf conditions during summer. A high-resolution hydrographic survey made during early MAy 1996 is used to describe the thermohaline and velocity structure of the shelfbreak front.

Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Geophysical Monograph Series, Volume 185.Indian Ocean Biogeochemical Processes and Ecological Variability provides a synthesis of current knowledge on Indian Ocean biogeochemistry and ecology and an introduction to new concepts and topical paradigm challenges. It also reports on the development of more extensive/frequent observational capacity being deployed in the Indian Ocean. This represents the first collection of syntheses that emphasize a basin-wide perspective, and the contributing authors include some of the most esteemed oceanographers and Indian Ocean experts in the world. The volume is derived from invited plenary talks that were presented at the initial Sustained Indian Ocean Biogeochemistry and Ecosystem Research (SIBER) workshop held at the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) in Goa, India, in October 2006. The volume discusses The overlying physical processes set by monsoonal forcing and how these control biological production and variability Nutrient cycling and limitation Pelagic carbon cycling and air-sea exchange Benthic biogeochemistry and ecology The impact of climate and human activities on biogeochemistry and ecosystems. The readership for this book will consist of academic and governmental researchers interested in exploring how oceanographic, atmospheric, and hydrological processes combine to establish the environmental setting that supports and drives the pelagic system and which are especially relevant to understanding the complex biogeochemical and ecological interactions in the Indian Ocean.

Analysis of sea surface temperature (SST) from coastal buoys suggests that the summertime over‐shelf water temperature off the U.S. West Coast has been declining during the past 30 years at an average rate of −0.19°C decade −1 . This cooling trend manifests itself more strongly off south‐central California than off Oregon and northern California. The variability and trend in the upwelling north of off San Francisco are positively correlated with those of the equatorward wind, indicating a role of offshore Ekman transport in the north. In contrast, Ekman pumping associated with wind stress curls better explains the stronger and statistically more significant cooling trend in the south. While the coast‐wide variability and trend in SST are strongly correlated with those of large‐scale modes of climate variability, they in general fail to explain the southward intensification of the trend in SST and wind stress curl. This result suggests that the local wind stress curl, often topographically forced, may have played a role in the upwelling trend pattern. Summer SST off the U.S. West Coast has been declining since the 1980s Cooling trend is more significant in Central and Southern California Ekman pumping explains the stronger cooling trend in the south

Coastal ecosystems provide major research challenges because of the diversity of their environments and habitats and their high spatial and temporal variability. The magnitude of mass exchanges and organism populations, and the proximity of coastal systems to human populations, necessitate an improved understanding of these ecosystems. Because of the complexity and, in many cases, interdependency of interactions, significant advancement requires a holistic, interdisciplinary approach.