Improving our understanding of mid-shelf fronts will contribute to the broader scientific thrust of determining the role of the coastal ocean in the carbon cycle. The question of how the fronts impact the cross-shelf flux of material is directly relevant to estimating the fate of carbon delivered to the coastal ocean by rivers. It is also of interest to researchers studying larval and juvenile fish, as it likely impacts recruitment of organisms with widely separated spawning and nursery areas (such as bluefish).

A frontal region at mid-shelf off the U.S. east coast has recently been identified in satellite sea surface temperature (SST) imagery (Ullman and Cornillon, 1999). It extends at least from the Scotian Shelf to Cape Hatteras at roughly the location of the 50 m isobath. The SST signature of these mid-shelf fronts (MSFs) is seen primarily in winter, and while weaker than the shelfbreak front, the MSFs are quite persistent.

he project objectives are to:

• describe the vertical structure of the Mid Shelf Front of the New York Bight and its temporal variability and how it responds to forcing by surface wind and heat flux.
• to determine whether either of two competing theories for the formation of the midshelf front, the TD mechanism of Ou et al. (2003) and the BBL mechanism of Chapman and Lentz (1994), adequately accounts for the observations.
• determine the degree to which the front inhibits cross-shelf exchange of water properties.

Scientists involved in the project
	Dave Ullman (PI) - University of Rhode Island	website
	Josh Kohut - RU COOL	website
	Daniel L Codiga - University of Rhode Island	website
	David L Hebert - University of Rhode Island	website
	Christopher R Kincaid -    University of Rhode Island	website
	S. Bradley Moran - University of Rhode Island	website

Fig. 1 Pixel-based probability of detection of SST fronts averaged over the month of February for the years 1985-2000.

 

Fig. 2 Map of the proposed study area.