Gulf of Alaska LME

The Gulf of Alaska Large Marine Ecosystem lies off the southern coast of Alaska and the western coast of Canada. It is separated from the East Bering Sea LME by the Alaska Peninsula. Its climate is sub-Arctic. The cold Subarctic Current flows from the East, and divides in two at about 53 deg N (Queen Charlotte Sound, Canada). This serves as the boundary between the Gulf of Alaska and the California Current LME. The Gulf of Alaska Large Marine Ecosystem is sensitive to climate variations on time scales ranging from the interannual to the interdecadal. The catch composition in the Gulf of Alaska differs from all other Alaskan LMEs in having the freshwater and anadromous group, this linked to the rich Pacific Salmon fisheries. Changes in the future production of salmons have been predicted as a consequence of long term shifts in the plankton biomass in the last decades. However, recent catch trends are rather stable.

Eddies off the Queen Charlotte Islands. The bright red, green and turquoise patches to the west of British Columbia's Queen Charlotte Islands and Alaska's Alexander Archipelago highlight the presence of biological activity in the ocean. These colors indicate high concentrations of chlorophyll, the primary pigment found in phytoplankton. Notice that there are a number of eddies visible in the Pacific Ocean in this pseudo- color scene. The eddies are formed by strong outflow currents from rivers along North America's west coast that are rich in nutrients from the springtime snowmelt running off the mountains. This nutrient-rich water helps stimulate the phytoplankton blooms within the eddies. The snow-covered mountains of British Columbia are visible in the upper right-hand corner of the image. This scene was constructed using SeaWiFS data collected on June 13, 2002. (caption courtesy NASA).