Wind-induced upwelling along the west coast of North America, 1899–1988

Alongshore geostrophic wind stresses (AWS) were used as an "index" of wind-induced coastal upwelling/downwelling for eight coastal stations from Baja California to Alaska for 1899–1988. For winters since around 1940, downwelling has intensified along Alaska and northern British Columbia, while upwelling has increased along Baja California. El Niño events induced strong winter coastal downwelling poleward of 40°N. During summer, upwelling has increased since around 1940 along southern British Columbia to Baja California, while from 1899 to 1940, upwelling declined along southern California to Baja California. Empirical orthogonal function analysis of the AWS showed that the first mode consisted of the AWS at the eight stations all varying in-phase, while the second mode had the northern four stations out-of-phase with the southern four stations. Off southern British Columbia, correlations between coastal sea level and AWS and between sea surface temperature and AWS were both strong during winter but insignificant during summer. In contrast, correlation between salinity and alongshore wind stress was insignificant during fall and winter, but strong during spring and moderate during summer. Summer AWS was positively correlated with both the fatness of sardine and the condition factor of herring off British Columbia.