Transport of oceanic nitrate from the continental shelf to the coastal basin in relation to the path of the Kuroshio

Hydrographic and biogeochemical observations were conducted along the longitudinal section from Ise Bay to the continental margin (southern coast of Japan) to investigate changes according to the Kuroshio path variations during the summer. The strength of the uplift of the cold deep water was influenced by the surface intrusion of the Kuroshio water to the shelf region. When the intrusion of the Kuroshio surface water to the shelf region was weak in 2006, the cold and NO3−-rich shelf water intruded into the bottom layer in the bay from the shelf. This bottom intrusion was intensified by the large river discharge. The nitrogen isotope ratio (δ15N) of NO3− (4–5‰) in the bottom bay water was same as that in the deeper NO3− over the shelf, indicating the supply of new nitrogen to the bay. The warm and NO3−-poor shelf water intruded into the middle layer via the mixing region at the bay mouth when the Kuroshio water distributed in the coastal areas off Ise Bay in 2005. The regenerated NO3− with isotopically light nitrogen (δ15N=−1‰) was supplied from the shelf to the bay. This NO3− is regenerated by the nitrification in the upper layer over the shelf. The contribution rate of regenerated NO3− over the shelf to the total NO3− in the subsurface chlorophyll maximum layer in the bay was estimated at ∼56% by a two-source mixing model coupled with the Rayleigh equation.