Opinion: The Santa Anas aren’t all bad
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Count on a few scientists to point out a silver lining to widespread misery. Using satellite data, scientists at Pasadena’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory found in 2004 that the warm Santa Ana winds benefited the aquatic ecosystem off Southern California’s cost by churning up nutrients normally found in deeper, colder water. Here’s part of the explanation for the more science-literate:
‘These strong winds, which blow from the land out into the ocean, cause cold water to rise from the bottom of the ocean to the top, bringing with it many nutrients that ultimately benefit local fisheries,’ said Dr. Timothy Liu, a senior research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., and Quikscat project scientist. Santa Ana consequences include vortices of cold water and high concentrations of chlorophyll 400 to 1,000 kilometers (248 to 621 miles) offshore[. . .] The latter instrument showed sea surface temperatures dropped four degrees Celsius (seven degrees Fahrenheit) during the February 2003 Santa Anas. That was a sign that upwelling had occurred, meaning, deep cold water moved up to the ocean surface bringing nutrients. Images from SeaWiFS confirmed the increased biological productivity by measuring chlorophyll concentrations in the surface water. It went from negligible, in the absence of winds, to very active biological activity (more than 1.5 milligrams per cubic meter) in the presence of the winds.
Read the entire story from 2004 here.