Abstract

Recent work has shown that Alaska salmon population production responds to regime-scale (interdecadal) climate forcing, manifesting itself in low frequency and rather abrupt jumps which correspond very closely to similar abrupt shifts in North Pacific atmosphere and ocean climate.

The objective of this paper is to discuss recent findings on the effects of regime-scale climate changes on upper ocean dynamics and apparent responses in phytoplankton and zooplankton production in both the California and Alaska Current regions of the Northeast Pacific. These results have major implications concerning mechanisms linking observed decadal-scale climate response of Northeast Pacific salmon to their ocean environment.