Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 59 (2004) 151e161

External and internal control of winter concentrations

of nutrients (N, P and Si) in north-west European shelf seas
D.J. Hydesa,), R.J. Gowenb, N.P. Hollidaya, T. Shammonc, D. Millsd
a
Southampton Oceanography Centre, Empress Dock, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK
b
Aquatic Systems Group, Agricultural and Environmental Science Division, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development,
Newforge Lane, Belfast BT9 5PX, UK
c
University of Liverpool, Port Erin Marine Laboratory, Port Erin, Isle of Man IM9 6JA, UK
d
CEFAS, Pakeeld Road, Lowestoft, Suolk NR33 OHT, UK

Received 6 May 2003; accepted 20 August 2003

Abstract

Nutrient data from ve winter cruises since 1994 and the 40-year time series from the CYPRIS station in the Irish Sea are used to
assess the controls of winter concentrations in the Celtic and Irish Seas and the Malin Shelf region of the north-west European shelf.
At the Malin Shelf break, boundaries between ocean water, the shelf edge current and shelf waters were well dened by changes in
salinity, temperature and concentrations of nutrients (nitrate + nitrite (N), phosphate (P) and silicate (Si)). Concentrations fell from
oceanic values of 11.0 mM N, 0.68 mM P and 4.75 mM Si to 7.4 mM N, 0.53 mM P and 3.3 mM Si in open shelf sea waters. Across the
Celtic Sea shelf break boundaries are less well dened. Areas of water with concentrations of nutrients below those o-shelf are
detected in certain areas. Denitrication is a ubiquitous process on the shelf. The accumulated loss of nitrate relative to phosphate
increases moving from the shelf break into the Irish Sea. Comparisons of estimated rates of denitrication with measured N : P ratios
suggest waters on the Malin Shelf have an age of 400 days relative to ocean water crossing the shelf break. Across the Celtic Sea the
transit time for water from the Atlantic Ocean into the central Irish Sea is six years, consistent with the complexity of water types
and frontal structures. Concentrations at CYPRIS are consistent with the degree of nitrate loss from the water on route to the
central Irish Sea. Relatively high concentrations of silicate measured at CYPRIS station indicate this location is more inuenced by
waters with an origin south of 53.5(N than from the eastern Irish Sea.
2003 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Keywords: eutrophication; denitrication; fronts; Celtic and Irish Seas; residence time

1. Introduction pean shelf has been hampered by a lack of data and

Eutrophication studies have tended to focus on
changes in river inputs and atmospheric deposition as
the main drivers of change (e.g. Nixon et al., 1996).
However, large scale oceanic processes may also induce
changes in shelf seas. Possible drivers of change in
north-west European shelf waters have been identied in
the Russell Cycle (Southward, 1980) and the North
Atlantic Oscillation (Rodwell et al., 1999; Reid et al.,
2001). Assessment of changes in the north-west Euro-
) Corresponding author.
E-mail address: d.j.hydes@soc.soton.ac.uk (D.J. Hydes).
0272-7714/03/$ - see front matter 2003 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
doi:10.1016/j.ecss.2003.08.004
a lack of relevant contextual understanding of bio-
geochemical and physical processes. The NOWESP
project for example, identied that even in a relatively
well-studied area like the north-west European shelf
there are gaps in the data coverage particularly in winter
(Radach et al., 1996). The mechanisms and timing of the
transfer of ocean properties into shelf waters are poorly
known. Pingree et al. (1999) demonstrated that physical
processes at the shelf break tend to insulate the north-
west European shelf from the Atlantic Ocean. Finally,
while it is appreciated that transport times on the shelf
may be longer than the annual cycle of biological
production and decay (Huthnance, 1995; Prandle et al.,
1997), the degree to which the composition of water is
152 D.J. Hydes et al. / Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 59 (2004) 151e161
modied by biogeochemical cycling during transport on
the shelf is poorly quantied.
Assessing change on the basis of winter nutrient
concentrations is a useful starting point as it is these
concentrations that fuel spring bloom production and
essentially set the limits on annual production. Concen-
trations in winter are determined by external and
internal inputs, regeneration, losses (e.g. burial and
denitrication) and the dispersion of new nutrients
from river and ocean source waters. Each of these pro-
cesses has a time constant (Hydes et al., 1999; Huthnance
1995; Prandle et al., 1997). Lack of quantication of
these processes makes interpretation of observed changes
problematic. A case in point is the interpretation of data
from the CYPRIS station in the Irish Sea (Laane et al.,
1996; Allen et al., 1998). Allen et al. (1998) reported that
the winter data show increases in concentrations of
nitrate and phosphate that could be caused by anthro-
pogenic inputs to the Irish Sea. Gowen et al. (2002)
extended the analysis carried out by Allen et al. (1998) to
consider CYPRIS data collected after 1990. They
concluded the CYPRIS data provide evidence of: (1)
increasing concentrations of nitrate and phosphate
prior to 1974; (2) no signicant change in concentrations
of nitrate after 1974 which is consistent with the river
monitoring data; and (3) decreased concentrations of
phosphate after 1992 following documented reductions
in discharges. In this paper two questions unresolved by
Gowen et al. (2002) are considered. Firstly, can the
CYPRIS station be considered to be representative of
the Irish Sea as a whole, or if not, can the area it best
represents be resolved? Secondly, are observed concen-
trations of nitrate and estimates of denitrication rates
consistent with the size of the nitrate sink in the Irish
Sea? Gowen et al. (2002) demonstrated that changes in
concentration of nitrate at the CYPRIS station are
lower than would be predicted from the knowledge of
concentrations in the likely source waters. Field mea-
surements (Gibson et al., 1997; Trimmer et al., 1999;
Gowen et al., 2000) and box models (Simpson and
Rippeth, 1998) indicate that the cause of this short fall is
denitrication. Here existing and new nitrate measure-
ments, estimated rates of nitrication and transit times
are examined within the context of the Irish Sea nitrate
budget.
To understand better what determines the observed
inorganic nutrient concentrations at CYPRIS and in the
Irish Sea there is a need to place these measurements
into a broader, shelf-wide context. It is important to
discriminate between external forcing (e.g. variation in
oceanic and freshwater nutrient supplies and their
relative contributions to the nutrient budget) and
internal forcing (e.g. the interplay of circulation patterns
and non-conservative biogeochemical processes). This
has previously not been possible. Reported surveys have
not covered concentrations in the potential source
waters outside the Irish Sea (e.g. Slinn, 1974; Foster,
1984; Gibson et al., 1997). This paper considers the
complex picture of variations in concentrations of
nutrients across the shelf in winter and focuses on their
relevance to changes that have been observed at the
CYPRIS station. This is done by making use of data
that have become available since 1994. The core data set
was collected on a cruise that sampled the high salinity
source waters both south and north of the Irish Sea, and
around the CYPRIS station (RRS Discovery cruise 245
hereafter abbreviated to D245; JanuaryeFebruary 2000,
chief scientists N.P. Holliday and C. Griths).
2. Methods
The D245 data are compared to: (1) data presented
by Gowen et al. (2002) which were collected in February
1998 and 1999 during UK National Marine Monitoring
programme cruises undertaken by CEFAS-Lowestoft
(cruises 98/1 and 99/1 on FRS Cirolana, hereafter
abbreviated to Ci98/1 and Ci99/1); and (2) data col-
lected at the shelf break in January and February 1994
as part of the EU-MAST-OMEX project, on cruises FS
Meteor 27/1 (M27/1) and RRS Charles Darwin 84
(CD84, Wollast and Chou, 2001; Hydes et al., 2001).
The OMEX cruise CD84 collected nitrate samples
underway at the shelf break and across the Celtic Sea,
while on cruise M27/1 all three nutrients were collected
by principal investigators Brockmann and Raabe at and
beyond the shelf break (Hydes et al., 2001).
Locations of nutrient samples from all of the cruises
are shown in Fig. 1. During cruise D245 in Januarye
February 2000 near surface temperature, salinity and
dissolved inorganic nutrients (nitrate + nitrite (N),
phosphate (P) and silicate (Si)) were measured. The
cruise covered the area from the English Channel, the
Celtic and Irish Seas and the Malin Shelf west to
Rockall. Water samples were collected at approximately
half hourly intervals during two periods while the ship
was underway. In the rst period 113 samples were
collected between 28 and 30 January 2000 from 5.87(W,
50.76(N to 6.11(W, 56.67(N. The second set of
samples (190) was collected between 15 and 19 February
2000, from 11.97(W, 57.46(N to 03.26(W, 50.18(N.
Continuous measurements of temperature and salinity
and periodic water samples were made using the clean
seawater supply pumped from an intake depth of 5 m.
Concentrations of nutrients were determined using
a Burkard segmented ow AAII type auto-analyser
coupled to a digital-analysis microstream data capture
and reduction system. All samples were run in duplicate.
The mean dierences between duplicates were 0.05 mM
N, 0.04 mM Si, and 0.015 mM P. At the median values of
nitrate and phosphate the mean values for the duplicate
dierences suggest the precision of the estimate of the
 D.J. Hydes et al. / Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 59 (2004) 151e161 153

3.1. Area 1. Rockall to Malin Shelf

and Scottish Coastal waters

The section extends from the western Rockall Trough

Fig. 1. Location of the surface water nutrient samples collected during
cruises RRS Charles Darwin CD84 (February 1994), FRS Cirolana
Ci98/1 (February 1998), FRS Cirolana Ci99/1 (February 1999) and
RRS Discovery D245 (February 2000).
(57.5(N, 12(W) in open Atlantic waters to a way-point
o Oban (5.5(W) in the restricted coastal waters of the
Firth of Lorne. Sampling followed a period of 10 days of
westerly storms (Holliday and Griths, pers. comm.).
Four distinct areas of water can be identied from the
temperature and salinity data (Fig. 2a). These are (1) o-
shelf water; (2) shelf break water; (3) open shelf water;
and (4) Scottish coastal water. O-shelf, the water was
well-mixed with temperature and salinity of 9.6 (C and
35.38, respectively. At the shelf break (z9(W) the
salinity increased to 35.40 and temperature to 9.8 (C,
indicative of the shelf edge current. At the start of the
open shelf at 8.7(W, temperature and salinity fell
sharply where the water had shallowed to a depth of
100 m. Across the shelf, the water temperature decreased
gradually, while the varying salinity indicated that
patches of dierent water types were present. Salinity
decreased to a minimum of 34.75 at 7.4(W but increased
again to the east. East of 6.3(W the water was directly
inuenced by the input of new fresh water from
the Scottish coast, characterised by lower temperatures
(6.4 (C at 5.8(W) and salinity (less than 34.50).
The nutrient data along the section are shown in
Fig. 2b. Concentrations were uniform o-shelf (11.0 mM

N : P ratio is G0.4. During the cruise standards prepared

from dry salts were compared with Ocean Scientic
International Ltd (OSIL) nutrient standard solutions.
All dierences were less than 1%. Measurements of
CYPRIS samples have been standardised against OSIL
nutrient solutions since May 1996. The CYPRIS station
is approximately 5 km west of the Isle of Man at
54.1(N, 4.8(W.

3. Results

The data are considered in three regions. The rst

two are the waters that potentially supply the Irish Sea.
The rst area extends from Rockall to the Malin Shelf
and Scottish Coastal waters (12(e6(W at 57(N), with
data collected on D245 (JanuaryeFebruary 2000). The
second area is the Celtic Sea covering observations
at the shelf break and on sections through the Celtic
Sea collected on cruises M27/1 and CD84 (Januarye
February 1994), Ci98/1 (February 1998) and Ci99/1
(February 1999) and D245 (JanuaryeFebruary 2000).
The third area is the Irish Sea itself from 51.5( to
55.5(N, with data from D245 (JanuaryeFebruary 2000) Fig. 2. Cruise D245; surface underway data along the section at 57(N.
and the CYPRIS time series station (data collected since (a) Salinity and temperature ((C), (b) concentrations (mM) of silicate,
the 1960s). nitrate and phosphate.
154 D.J. Hydes et al. / Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 59 (2004) 151e161

N, 0.68 mM P and 4.75 mM Si), lower immediately adja-

cent to the shelf edge (10.3 mM N, 0.65 mM P and
4.25 mM Si) and signicantly lower and more variable in
open shelf waters. The N : P ratio had a consistent value
of between 16.6 and 16.0 in waters at and beyond the
shelf break, but fell to about 14 on-shelf. In Scottish
coastal waters concentrations of silicate were higher,
and concentrations of nitrate and phosphate were lower
than in the open shelf waters.

3.2. Area 2. Celtic Sea

From o-shelf towards the Celtic Sea salinity fell

abruptly from 35.5 to 35.3 when the shelf break was
crossed between 10.55( and 10.33(W (Fig. 3). On the
open shelf, salinities were between 35.3 and 35.0.
Observations o the Celtic Sea shelf break in January
1994 show uniform concentrations down to the base of
the winter mixed layer at 300 m (7.8 mM N, 0.5 mM P,
2.8 mM Si; Hydes et al., 2001). Cruise CD84 sampled
parallel to the shelf break and across the Celtic Sea into
the Bristol Channel (Fig. 1). Along the shelf break
concentrations of nitrate varied between 6.5 and 8.5 mM
(Fig. 4a). On the open shelf no consistent pattern of
change in nitrate concentration with salinity was
discerned and the mean concentration of nitrate in
these waters was 8.0 mM. Towards the Bristol Channel
and at salinities below 35.0 the concentration of nitrate
increased with decreasing salinity (Fig. 4a). Nitrate data
from cruises Ci98/1, Ci99/1 and D245 are also shown in
Fig. 4a. In the three data sets the highest salinity and
most westerly samples tend to a similar concentration of
7.0e8.0 mM N. Samples collected on cruise Ci99/1 show
a similar lack of a nutrientesalinity relationship at
salinities between 35.0 and 35.5. In contrast, samples
collected on-shelf during Ci98/1 and D245 show clear
but opposed relationships with salinity. The two data
sets converge on a minimum concentration of 5 mM N at
salinities around 35.3. Correspondingly the molar ratio
of N : P decreased with decreasing concentrations of
nitrate to a minimum of 12 in these waters. This area of
low nitrate water was located south of 50.5(N on cruise
Fig. 4. Cruises CD84, Ci98/1, Ci99/1 and D245 in the Celtic Sea
48(e52(N and 12(e6(W. (a) Concentrations (mM) of nitrate against
salinity, (b) concentrations of silicate (mM) against salinity.
D245 and in an adjacent area between 6.5( and 6.0(W
and 50.5( and 51.2(N on cruise Ci98/1.
Concentrations of silicate measured closest to the
shelf break on cruises Ci98/1 and Ci99/1 were 2.4 mM Si
(8(W, 48.5(N, Ci98/1) and 2.8 mM Si (8.4(W, 48.0(N,
Ci98/1). When the data from the cruises are plotted
against salinity (Fig. 4a), the data fall along dierent
trend lines. However, these trends converge at a value of
2.3 mM Si and salinity of 35.56. This value is less than
that in waters of higher salinity in the data from Ci98/1
and in well-mixed o-shelf waters in the data from M27/
1 (2.8 mM Si). This minimum concentration of silicate
occurs at the same salinity as the secondary minimum
noted above in the nitrate data collected on Ci98/1
(Fig. 4a). The dierent trends may be related to the
locations in which the samples were collected. The Ci99/1
samples collected south of 50(N (see Fig. 1a) share the
trend with the Ci98/1 samples, and the concentrations
of the more northerly samples had concentrations closer
to those measured on cruise D245.

3.3. Area 3. Irish Sea

Waters of the Irish Sea were sampled twice during

Fig. 3. Cruise CD84; continuous underway records of temperature cruise D245. The northward section was sampled on
((C) and salinity across the Celtic Sea shelf break and shelf. 28e29 January 2000 during neap tidal conditions. The
 D.J. Hydes et al. / Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 59 (2004) 151e161
return southward section was sampled three weeks later
(17e19 February 2000) during spring tide conditions. In
Fig. 5a and b dierences in temperature and salinity
between the two legs are compared. Both legs were
characterised by the expected meridional gradient in
temperature, with warmer water to the south. Rather
than a smooth constant gradient however, the records
show sharp discontinuities (Fig. 5a and b). On the
northward leg the most pronounced temperature front
was observed at 53.5(N which corresponds to where the
Irish Sea widens north of Wales. On the southward
section this temperature front had weakened and shifted
south to 53.2(N. Over the period between the two sets
of measurements, temperatures as a whole fell by be-
tween 0.5 and 1 (C (depending on location). This reduc-
tion is consistent with previous observations of the rate
of winter cooling (Lee, 1960). The salinity data show
some similarity to that of temperature with a progressive
decrease from south to north between 51.5( and
54.5(N. The northward leg was marked by a series
of salinity fronts at 52.3(, 52.6( and 53.5(N. The
southward leg showed a more continuous decrease with
the exception of the front at 53.2(N. North of 53.5(N,
salinity behaved dierently to temperature, on leaving
the Irish Sea through the North Channel on the rst leg,
salinity increased. On the return leg, salinities north of
53.5(N were higher than three weeks previously.
Fig. 5. Cruise D245; surface measurement from the two transits
through the Irish Sea, south to north during 28e29 January (black
line) and north to south during 17e19 February 2000 (grey line). (a)
Temperature ((C), (b) salinity.
155
3.4. Phosphate
Of the three nutrients, changes in concentrations of
phosphate most closely reect the structural features in
the temperature and salinity data. The variation in
phosphate concentration is plotted with corresponding
salinity data for the south to north legs in Fig. 6a. The
salinity data are shown with an inverted scale so that
conservative mixing of fresh and salt waters should
result in the two data sets moving in parallel. The data
show clear changes in concentration across the salinity
fronts. North of 54.5(N, the concentration of phosphate
decreased with increasing salinity.
In Fig. 6b the phosphate data from both legs are
plotted against salinity, with dierent symbols used to
distinguish samples in various latitudinal bands, with
data at the latitude of the Isle of Man further divided
between east and west of 5(W. There is no signicant
dierence in nutrient concentrations within these
latitudinal groupings between the northward and south-
ward legs. North of 56(N, the on-shelf samples show
little variations with salinity due to the low concentra-
tion in Scottish rivers (Nedwell et al., 2002). Samples
collected between 55( and 56(N fall below the main
Fig. 6. Cruise D245; phosphate data from the south to north section in
the Irish Sea. (a) Salinity and concentration of phosphate (mM) against
latitude (note inverted salinity scale), (b) phosphate (mM) against
salinities in the range 33.0e35.25: samples are grouped by location in
the Irish Seadsouth of the St. Georges Channel !51.5(N, southern
Irish Sea south of Anglesey 51.5(e53.5(N, eastern Irish Sea east of
5(W and between 53.5( and 56(N, western Irish Sea west of 5(W and
between 53.5( and 56(N, and north of the North Channel O56(N.
156 D.J. Hydes et al. / Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 59 (2004) 151e161
trend in the data which is consistent with the mixing of
these waters with a component originating north of
56(N. The dominant feature of Fig. 6b is that all the
data collected south of 56(N tend to fall along a similar
trend of increasing concentration with decreasing
salinity. Extrapolation of a least squares t of the
phosphate against salinity data collected from south of
51.5(N gives an intercept at zero salinity of
14:2G0:95 mM P (R2 0:86). For the phosphate data
associated with the lower salinity samples in the eastern
Irish Sea, the trend is to a statistically similar value of
12:8G0:53 mM (R2 0:93).
3.5. Silicate
Silicate and salinity data collected on the rst leg are
plotted against latitude in Fig. 7a. Changes in silicate
concentration are only partly explained by changes in
salinity, although the relationship between the two is
most apparent across the salinity front at 53.5(N and as
salinity increased north of 55(N. In Fig. 7b, silicate data
from the two legs are again subdivided into the same
latitudinal bands (and east versus west of 5(W around
Fig. 7. Cruise D245; silicate data from the south to north section in
the Irish Sea. (a) Salinity and concentration of silicate (mM) against
latitude (note inverted salinity scale), (b) silicate (mM) against salinities
in the range 33.0e35.25: samples are grouped by location in the Irish
Seadsouth of the St. Georges Channel !51.5(N, southern Irish Sea
south of Anglesey 51.5(e53.5(N, eastern Irish Sea east of 5(W and
between 53.5( and 56(N, western Irish Sea west of 5(W and between
53.5( and 56(N, and north of the North Channel O56(N.
the Isle of Man). Unlike the phosphate data (Fig. 6b)
however, no single trend is present in the silicate data.
Consequently data collected in the eastern Irish Sea
have a trend with salinity that predicts a fresh water
concentration of 122G3 mM Si (R2 0:98) while the
data south of 51.5(N predicts a higher fresh water in-
put of 208G14 mM Si (R2 0:86). Samples collected in
the western Irish Sea appear scattered in their relation-
ship with salinity. Samples in this group with higher
concentrations appear to be associated with samples
collected to the south (51.5(e53.5(N). The lower
concentration samples appear to be similar to data
collected to the north and inuenced by Scottish coas-
tal waters.
3.6. Nitrate
Concentrations of nitrate and salinity against latitude
are given in Fig. 8a. It can be seen that although values
of nitrate do increase overall between 52( and 55(N as
the salinity decreases, the specic phosphateesalinity
and silicateesalinity relationships identied above do
not apply to concentrations of nitrate and the various
Fig. 8. Cruise D245; Nitrate data from the south to north section in
the Irish Sea. (a) Salinity and concentration of nitrate (mM) against
latitude (note inverted salinity scale), (b) nitrate (mM) against salinities
in the range 33.0e35.25: samples are grouped by location in the Irish
Seadsouth of the St. Georges Channel !51.5(N, southern Irish Sea
south of Anglesey 51.5(e53.5(N, eastern Irish Sea east of 5(W and
between 53.5( and 56(N, western Irish Sea west of 5(W and between
53.5( and 56(N, and north of the North Channel O56(N.
 D.J. Hydes et al. / Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 59 (2004) 151e161
water types. When the nitrate data are plotted against
salinity (Fig. 8b) a number of dierent trends with
salinity can be distinguished. At lower salinities (!34.0)
two trends are apparent. Samples collected north of
56(N contain relatively low nitrate concentrations due
to the low values in Scottish fresh water sources.
Samples collected between 55( and 56(N show a posi-
tive trend of nitrate with salinity across the whole
salinity range, due to the inuence of the relatively high
nitrate Malin Shelf waters (see Fig. 2b). Between 53.5(
and 55(N and at salinities between 33.0 and 34.3 a clear
trend of increasing concentrations of nitrate with
decreasing salinity is present due to the inuence of
eastern Irish Sea rivers (Fig. 8b). The trend in the
eastern Irish Sea samples is a fresh water concentration
of 146G4 mM N (R2 0:96). As with silicate, concen-
trations of nitrate south of 51.5(N are inuenced by an
apparent source of fresh water with a relatively high
concentration (226G8 mM N, R2 0:96) compared to
those in the eastern Irish Sea. At intermediate salinities
(34.0e35.0) concentrations of nitrate in the dierent
areas change little with salinity, with concentrations
north of 55(N being about 1 mM N higher than they are
in the main body of the Irish Sea.
4. Discussion
In the following section, nutrient concentrations in
ocean waters at the shelf break are considered in relation
to possible barriers to direct exchange of oceanic waters
onto the shelf and their dispersion across the shelf and
into the Irish Sea. As a means of assessing the time scale
of transport into the Irish Sea, the age of water on the
shelf is estimated. Finally, we consider how these pro-
cesses sum with inputs from land to give the observed
concentrations in the region of the CYPRIS station.
4.1. Potential ocean source waters
Oceanic water is a potential source of nutrients to the
shelf in winter because a positive concentration gradient
exists. This is created when winter mixing o the shelf
returns nutrients to surface waters more rapidly than
overturning and regeneration can restore concentrations
on the shelf (Le Gall et al., 2000). Modelling studies for
the OMEX area o the Celtic Sea suggest that o-shelf
mixing occurs in two stages. Initial mixing during
autumn and early winter produces a mixed layer about
300 m deep, which is predicted to be relatively consistent
from year to year. Late winter surface cooling can
subsequently produce a sharp increase in the depth of
mixing which may be more variable from year to year
(Lampitt et al., 2001). The data from the cruises in the
months of January and February in 1994, 1998 and 1999
157
show that where the tracks coincide adjacent to the
Celtic Sea Shelf break, similar nutrient values were
measured, supporting the view that the initial depth of
winter mixing is consistent from year to year. The
variable increase in depth of mixing o the shelf in late
winter may not have time to propagate onto the shelf
before the on set of the spring bloom. The existence of
periods in which the supply term remains similar for
a number of years is consistent with the period of the
cycle of change identied in the E1 data set in the
English Channel (Southward, 1980; Joint et al., 1997).
The higher nutrient levels found at the Malin Shelf
break are consistent with the south to north increases in
the average depth of the winter mixed layer (Bauer and
Woods, 1984).
4.2. Boundaries limiting exchange and mixing
It might be expected that winter conditions would
favour exchange and movement of ocean water onto the
shelf in some locations, but it has been observed that
strong winter winds in general act to enhance the
northward ow of the shelf edge current rather than
forcing surface water onto the shelf (Pingree et al.,
1999). In the region of the Malin Shelf the drifter studies
of Burrows and Thorpe (1999) (discussed in Huthnance,
1997) have demonstrated that the main transport path is
along rather than across the shelf break with water from
the shelf edge current entering the North Sea north of
Scotland. The presence of the shelf edge current as
waters with higher salinity and lower concentrations of
nutrients is well dened in the Malin Shelf break section
(Fig. 2a and b). Work on cruise D245 also included
a CTD section from Malin Head to 13(W, which
provided information about the structure of the water
masses across the shelf break. Open ocean water was
well-mixed both horizontally and vertically, with a mixed
layer depth of 600e700 m. Data from the CTD and an
ADCP section also suggest that the waters at the shelf
break are indeed the surface expression of the shelf edge
current (Huthnance, 1995; Burrows and Thorpe, 1999),
and that in a horizontal sense it was distinct from
the rest of the open ocean. It was detectable through the
water column to a deep mixing depth of 750 m o the
shelf, and to the sea oor as the water depth decreased
to 200 m. The surface physical and nutrient data in
Fig. 2a and b also suggest that waters on the shelf east of
8.7(W are not mixing with ocean water and imply
limited direct exchange of ocean water across the shelf
break at that location.
Across the Celtic Sea Shelf break at 49(N, disconti-
nuity in the salinity and temperature data (Fig. 3) also
suggests that horizontal mixing across the shelf break is
limited. However, the corresponding concentrations of
nitrate measured during cruise CD84 did not show
158 D.J. Hydes et al. / Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 59 (2004) 151e161
a similar front and were relatively constant at 8:1G
0:3 mM between 12( and 7(W (Fig. 4a). Similarly,
while dierent water types are identiable in the data
close to the shelf break during cruises Ci98/1 and Ci99/
1, there is no evidence of a sharp transition in nutrient
concentrations at the shelf break. This suggests that
across this region deep mixing and regeneration have
restored nutrient concentration to consistent values. It
is possible however, to identify distinct water types with
dierent compositions. Some surface waters in the
Celtic Sea contained lower concentrations of nutrients
than adjacent ocean surface water. The trends shown
in the relationship between salinity and concentrations
of silicate (Fig. 4b) suggest that the dominant high
salinity (salinity 35.55) end member in the mixing
process is an on-shelf water with a silicate concentra-
tion lower than that of the o-shelf and near-shelf-edge
water. Similarly a minimum in nitrate was also evident
in data from Ci98/1 (Fig. 4a) at a salinity of 35.55.
Further onto the shelf and at lower salinities, concen-
trations of nitrate and the ratio of N : P declined (Ci98/1,
Ci99/1 and D245). These observations indicate that
dispersion of nutrients on the shelf is suciently
limited so that waters with concentrations lower than
o-shelf water persist through winter. As a conse-
quence, the composition of the higher salinity waters
mixing into the Irish Sea both from the north and the
south are dierent from, and tend to be lower than
those in waters sampled o the shelf.
4.3. Fronts in the Irish Sea
Historically the Irish Sea is considered to be
dominated by a prevailing ow from south to north
(Bowden, 1980). However, Pingree et al. (1999) showed
that once water has moved onto the shelf, ow is not
regular and winter features can persist for substantial
periods of time (months). Furthermore, it is evident that
local wind forcing rather than tidal or density driven
ows is the principal driving mechanism for ow
through the North Channel (Knight and Howarth,
1999). The largest transports are generated by along-
channel (south-easterly) winds. Knight and Howarth
(1999) estimated that the large wind stresses in February
1994 resulted in the equivalent of 34% of the volume of
the Irish Sea exiting through the North Channel in
a single month. They also observed that direction of
ow could be reversed on daily time-scales with changes
in the wind direction. Numerical models show that
should the wind direction change to westerly or north-
westerly for a signicant period of time the southward
ux of water could be large (Hall and Davies, 2001).
Data for the distribution of radionuclides south of the
Irish Sea conrm the existence of a secondary south-
ward transport pathway (McCubbin et al., 2002; Boust,
1999).
A noticeable feature on the northward leg of D245
was the persistent salinity and temperature front at
53.5(N where the Irish Sea widens north of Wales (Fig.
5a and b), separating well dened water types. The
existence of such features in winter has not been
documented before. Comparing plots of temperature
and salinity against latitude for the two legs of D245
through the Irish Sea (Fig. 5a and b) it can be seen that
the relative position of the fronts and the distribution of
temperature and salinity had changed i.e. the waters of
the Irish Sea had shifted to the south between the two
legs. This is consistent with the reversals of ow
identied by Knight and Howarth (1999) and Hall and
Davies (2001). What should also be noted is that
although signicant advection of water in the Irish Sea
was induced over this three-week period, the structural
features had not been broken down and the dierent
water types did not mix.
4.4. Indicators of the age of water on the shelf
Seitzinger and Giblin (1996) predicted that de-
nitrication on the north-west European shelf was
likely to be a signicant process out-weighing the high
inputs of nitrogen from European rivers, so that the
shelf would be a net sink for nitrogen in global terms.
In keeping with this idea, winter waters in the Malin
and Celtic Shelf seas contain lower concentrations of
nitrate than waters o the shelf. The ratio of N : P is
also lower on-shelf. Rates of denitrication have been
measured for a range of sediment types in the Irish Sea
(Trimmer et al., 1999; Gowen et al., 2000) and
estimated on the basis of the loss of nitrate relative
to phosphate in the Irish Sea (Simpson and Rippeth,
1998). Both measured and estimated rates of de-
nitrication suggest a similar value of approximately
0.1 mM NO3 m
2 day
1.
Hydes et al. (1999) demonstrated that the southern
North Sea was decient in nitrate relative to its source
waters. By quantifying the nitrate decit, Hydes et al.
showed that the size of the decit was consistent with
newer measurements of rates of denitrication (Lohse
et al., 1996) and a ushing time of the North Sea of
between one and two years. A similar approach can be
taken to estimate the residence time of waters around
the Irish Sea. This requires the assumption that at the
high salinities of shelf sea waters the bulk of the water
is of oceanic origin, and that the decit of nitrate
relative to phosphate can be used with a rate of
denitrication to give an estimate of the time that
water has been on the shelf. For this simple calculation
it is further assumed that: (1) a rate of denitrication of
0.1 mM NO3 m
2 day
1 similar to that suggested for
the Irish Sea can be applied from the Celtic Sea
through to the Malin Shelf; (2) higher salinity water on
 D.J. Hydes et al. / Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 59 (2004) 151e161 159

the shelf is formed from ocean water that contained

water at the o-shelf Redeld ratio of 16.4; (3)
phosphate behaves conservatively with respect to
nitrate other than where denitrication is occurring
(cf. LOICZ procedures for determining the balance
between net auto/heterotrophy; Gordon et al., 1996);
(4) the average depth of the water column is 100 m;
and (5) the ratio of N : P in river inputs is generally
greater than 16 (Nedwell et al., 2002). The nitrate
decit is the dierence between the observed nitrate
concentration and that estimated by multiplying the
phosphate concentration by the o-shelf Redeld ratio.
Dividing the nitrate decit in a water column 100 m
deep by the rate of denitrication gives the time taken
for the decit to have been generated. This in turn is
assumed to be equivalent to a residence time on the
shelf. The results of this calculation for waters on the
Malin Shelf suggest a progressive increase in the age of
the water moving away from the shelf break with an
apparent age of around 400 days at 8(W to 600 days
in the more easterly samples. The section through the
Celtic Sea into the Irish Sea suggests ages increasing
from about two years in the Celtic Sea to about six
years in the central Irish Sea.

4.5. The context of the CYPRIS station

In order to assess the area of the Irish Sea represented

by the CYPRIS station, the data over the last four
decades can be compared to the data collected on cruise
D245 immediately adjacent to the Isle of Man and
further aeld. In Fig. 9aec, the data for phosphate,
nitrate and silicate, collected around the Isle of Man on
the second leg of cruise D245 (east of 5(W) are
compared with data for concentrations of nutrients
measured in all the surface water samples collected at
the CYPRIS station in February. The CYPRIS data are
separated into the dierent decades in which the samples
were collected. The plots for phosphate and nitrate
appear similar (Fig. 9a and b). The trend in the D245
data follows the main trend in the CYPRIS data, with
the CYPRIS data showing a spread across the decades.
This suggests that conditions during February 2000 were
similar to average conditions during the last 40 years of
observations. Concentrations of both nitrate and
phosphate were lower in the 1960s and concentrations
of phosphate particularly were higher in the 1970s. In
contrast, silicate concentrations are more revealing.
Concentrations at CYPRIS appear to have been higher
than predicted by the trend in the data from February
2000 (Fig. 9c) over the whole period of observations.
The plots of nutrients against salinity (Figs. 6b, 7b and
8b) show that in the range of salinity most frequently
measured at CYPRIS, the relationships between con-
centration of nutrient and salinity are variable and
determined by the geographical provenance of the
Fig. 9. Concentration of nutrients collected on the track around the Isle
of Man during cruise D245 (February 2000) (Fig. 1), and February sur-
face data from the CYPRIS station (symbols distinguish decades from
1960s to 1990s). (a) Phosphate (mM), (b) nitrate (mM), (c) silicate (mM).
water. Comparing the spread of results in Fig. 9c with
those in Fig. 7b, suggests that the higher silicate
concentrations observed at CYPRIS may be due to the
inuence of water from the southern Irish Sea. Samples
from the region between 51.5( and 53.5(N are relatively
rich in silicate (but contain similar concentrations of
phosphate and nitrate to waters in the western and
eastern Irish sea at similar salinities, Figs. 6b and 8b).
The higher concentrations of silicate in waters of the
southern Irish Sea may be due to high concentrations in
the input from the River Severn. Monitoring data for
silicate is not available for the River Severn, however,
unpublished British Geological Survey stream base ow
data suggest concentrations of water entering the lower
Severn estuary may be as high as 300 mM Si (C. Neal,
160 D.J. Hydes et al. / Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 59 (2004) 151e161
pers. comm.). The relatively high concentrations of
silicate observed at the CYPRIS station therefore
suggest that in fact the CYPRIS station tends to repre-
sent waters with an origin to the south rather than to
the east of the Isle of Man.
The second question raised in the introduction was
the extent to which measured and estimated rates of
denitrication are consistent with the size of the nitrate
sink in the Irish Sea. A rate of denitrication of 0.1 mM
NO3 m
2 day
1 requires that the transport time of water
from the Celtic Shelf break into the Irish Sea is about six
years. An age of six years seems high compared to
estimates of the residence time of radionuclides in the
Irish Sea, which suggest a residence time of one to two
years (Prandle, 1984; McCubbin et al., 2002). Therefore
there is either a problem with the interpretation of
previous estimates of residence times in the Irish and
Celtic Seas or with measurements and estimates of
denitrication rates. The estimate does not seem un-
reasonable when compared to the persistence of features
studied by oat tracks (Pingree et al., 1999). In part the
dierence may lie in the fact that the estimate made here
gives a total transport time from the shelf break into the
central Irish Sea, and has been compared to shorter
range dispersion out of the Irish Sea (McCubbin et al.,
2002). On the other hand the simple estimate made
above neglects the fact that both atmospheric and river
inputs would be expected to increase the starting ratio of
N:P again arguing that the transport times on the shelf
are longer than estimated here or that denitrication
rates are higher than present estimates.
Acknowledgements
We are extremely grateful for the assistance and
camaraderie of fellow scientists and marine sta on
board RRS Discovery, RRS Charles Darwin, FS Meteor
and FRS Cirolana. The sea conditions under which
many of these samples were collected were more than
rough. Sampling on the return leg of D245 followed
a period of 10 days of westerly storms during which
Discovery was hove to in conditions where wave heights
reached nearly 30 m. We thank Colin Neal of the NERC
Institute of Hydrogeology for information on concen-
trations of Si in the catchment of the River Severn. The
work was partially funded by the NERC core strategic
project BICEP at SOC and an NERC Marine Pro-
ductivity Phase 1 grant to djh and rjg.
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