Annual subsurface transport of a red tide dinoflagellate to its bloom area: Water circulation patterns and organism distributions in the Chesapeake Bay 1

Abstract

An annual, long range, subsurface transport of Prorocentrum mariae‐lebouriae, from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay to its bloom area in the upper bay, a distance of 240 km, is described and completely documented. Prorocentrum in surface outflowing waters at the mouth of the bay is recruited in late winter into more dense inflowing coastal waters. Strong stratification produced by late winter–early spring surface runoff results in the development of a stable pycnocline. Prorocentrum, now in northward‐flowing bottom waters, is retained in these bottom waters. It accumulates in a subsurface concentration maximum below the pycnocline and is transported northward to reach its bloom area in the Patapsco River and north of the Bay Bridge by late spring. The rapidly decreasing depth of the upper bay causes the pycnocline to rise, mixing the previously light‐limited Prorocentrum and its nutrient‐rich bottom waters to the surface, where rapid growth ensues. Once the dinoflagellate is in surface waters, positive phototaxis, combined with both wind‐ and tide‐driven surface convergences, produce dense surface patches or red tides. Prorocentrum is effectively retained in the bay until late winter by sequential inoculation into the tributary estuaries on the western shore, which exchange relatively slowly with bay waters. By late winter the annual cycle is complete. Prorocentrum is again in surface waters at the mouth of the bay where it is reintroduced into northward‐flowing bottom waters. The mechanisms described provide a key to understanding the origins of subsurface chlorophyll maxima and the delivery of toxic dinoflagellates to coastal bloom areas.