U.S. GLOBEC: Georges Bank Phase II Circulation Modes on Georges Bank: Quantifying Water Sources using the O-18 Tracer

9632784 FAIRBANKS Circulation of water over Georges Bank can be described by two modes: (1) the canonical mode, that is an anticyclonic gyre with source waters originating in the coastal Gulf of Maine; (2) the 'shunt mode' that is characterized by direct injection of Scotian Shelf Water across the Northeast Channel onto the south flank of Georges Bank. The primary objective of this study is to assess the amount of biological variance explained by these two circulation modes. The project will use the oxygen isotope tracer oxygen-18 of the water to separate local and upstream freshwater sources and to quantitatively estimate the percent contribution of each to Georges Bank water. This project is a part of the U.S. GLOBEC Northwest Atlantic Field Studies, Phase 2 program. ***