Coastal upwelling, circulation and heat balance around New Caledonia’s barrier reef

Abstract

An outstanding characteristic of New Caledonia upwelling is that most events appear limited to the southern half of the western barrier reef. This north-south difference cannot be explained by alongshore variability of the projected wind stress and no strong evidence for alternative explanations has been proposed. A major objective of this paper is to provide the first dynamical analysis of New Caledonia upwelling and its regional environment, based on numerical simulations. Coastal upwelling around New Caledonia is shown to be modulated by a system of geostrophic currents interacting with the island mass. Upwelling velocities are weaker than expected from the two-dimensional Ekman theory, as Ekman divergence is balanced by "coastal geostrophic convergence". The cooling effect of upwelling is also attenuated by alongshore transport of warm water by the Alis current, reminiscent of the Leeuwin current off Western Australia. Nevertheless, coastal upwelling can locally modify the large-scale surface water heat budget, dominated by meridional advection warming and surface cooling. The upwelled waters appear to be mostly of western origin and are transported below the surface by the Subtropical Counter Current before upwelling off New Caledonia. This appears in sharp contrast with the eastern barrier reef where the general warming by meridional advection of tropical surface waters is accentuated by the vigorous western boundary type Vauban current.