Coastal Upwelling
D1. Physical and chemical oceanography and marine meteorologyDefinition
Wind-driven uplift of cold, nutrient-rich water along a coastline.
Coastal upwelling is the wind-driven rise of cold, nutrient-rich subsurface water along a coast, set up when alongshore wind drives offshore Ekman transport that surface water replaces from below. The eastern-boundary systems off California, Peru-Chile, northwest Africa, and Benguela are the classic cases, supporting some of the most productive fisheries on Earth. Upwelling intensity is tracked by the Bakun upwelling index.