Teleconnections between upwelling along the Pacific coast of Baja California and marine and terrestrial gross primary production

Terrestrial processes are closely connected to the oceans through teleconnections in the atmosphere. The global terrestrial carbon cycle is known to be affected by a teleconnection to large scale atmospheric events such as El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO; 2 to 7 year cycles), Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO; decadal cycles). ENSO and PDO are the predominate atmospheric patterns which impact the Pacific coast of North America. Correlations between ENSO indices and gross primary production have shown that ENSO may partially explain the variability in the global terrestrial carbon cycle. We hypothesize that the remaining variability (for those ecosystems along eastern basin margins) may be explained by the teleconnection between terrestrial primary production and upwelling along continental margins. The study sites were selected along the Baja California peninsula due to the fact that each one is characterized by year round coastal upwelling (though stronger during the boreal spinr/summer months) and their respective terrestrial climate characteristics: 1. Punta Colonet/Sierra San Pedro Martir is located in a mediterranean climate with conifer forest; 2. Punta Abre Ojos (just south of Guerrero Negro) is located in the central desert region; 3. at approximate 29°00' N (west of Bahía de los Angeles) is in the central desert region but is also characterized by fog; and 4. Magdalena Bay is located in a subtropical desert region with sporadic rain events (here the marine portion of the transect will extend out from the mouth of the bay). Using ten years of MODIS Terra and Aqua (terrestrial gross primary production [TGPP]) and SeaWif's (chlorophyll a [chl. a] as a proxy for biomass) data for four transects along the Baja California peninsula (extending from approximately 300 km off the coast to up to 50 km inland depending on the transect) the gross primary production will be analyzed in relation to upwelling (represented by sea surface temperature [SST]). Furthermore, precipitation will be analyzed in relation to SST to determine how upwelling affects regional precipitation. We seek to determine how chl. a and GTPP react during El Niño and La Niña years to the strength and duration of upwelling events and how the variability in the present study may be interpreted on a global scale.