The Large Marine Ecosystem of Shelf Areas in the Gulf of Guinea: Long-Term Variability Induced by Climatic Changes

Abstract

The Gulf of Guinea ecosystem extends fromthe Bissagos Islands to Cape Lopez (Fig. 1). Its shelf waters are shared between subsystems; one is characterized by thermal stability of waters, the other by instability. In the first subsystem, nutrient input depends on land drainage, river flood, and turbulent diffusion through a stable pycnoche; in the second subsystem, periodic rising of mid-depth water raises nutrients to the euphotic layer (Binet, 1983a). This seasonal