Physical and chemical marine environment of the Prince Edward Islands (Southern Ocean) during April/May 1987

Abstract

Physical (temperature, salinity), nutrient (silicate, phosphate, nitrate, nitrite) and chlorophyll-a data collected on a cruise to the Prince Edward Islands during April and May 1987 are presented and discussed. Frontal features and distributions of surface nutrients suggest the presence of the Subantarctic Front at the islands. Further evidence for an anticyclonic eddy over the saddle between the islands is presented. Dilution of the surface mixed layer between the two islands in the group is shown to be the result of run-off from the islands, water which contributes to the nutrient structure of the circuminsular sea.